Police to probe Mungiki claim

Police are investigating why members of the outlawed Mungiki sect were allowed to take part in a political rally in Kiambu on Sunday.

Police spokesman Mwangi King'ori said yesterday the Central provincial boss should explain why the meeting was allowed to go on, while the ban on the sect was still in force.

"We will conduct investigations if it is indeed true that it was members of the proscribed sect who attended the Limuru meeting," Mr King'ori said on the telephone.

On Sunday, two MPs addressed the meeting attended by sect members, including national chairman Maina Njenga.

Tigania East MP Peter Munya and his Subukia counterpart Koigi wa Wamwere, called on police to stop harassing the members.

When Mr Wamwere and Mr Munya arrived, they were offered snuff by the officials. All except Mr Wamwere turned down the offer.

The MPs yesterday accused the Press, particularly the Nation, of having a sinister motive by implying that they had endorsed the activities of the sect.

"The report in the Nation is aimed at portraying me as an extremist and sectarian leader who should not be taken seriously," Mr Munya said.

The MP said he was on record as having opposed the activities of Mungiki, and especially the retrogressive tradition of female genital mutilation.

The two legislators said at Parliament Buildings that the youths at the meeting were not Mungiki members.

The MP said the fact that the youths wore dreadlocks and sniffed tobacco did not imply they were members of the sect.

Shortly after he took office in January, National Security minister Chris Murungaru ordered a crackdown on Mungiki and all other ragtag armies.

The sect has been associated with violence and murder in some city slums and other parts of the country. Its members have also been implicated in clashes over the management of matatu routes, mostly in Nairobi.