Mungiki: Are They Above the Law?

Outraged religious and political leaders yesterday charged that Mungiki people have been operating as if they were above the law.

Mungiki, a tradition-based, religious-cum-political outfit, is blamed for the cold-blooded killing on Sunday night of 23 people in Kariobangi North area of Nairobi.

And the police were accused of turning a blind eye to Mungiki as it grew from a controversial and little-known sect to a major security problem.

In Sunday night's operation carried out under the cover of darkness, the unsuspecting victims were hacked or clubbed to death in the streets, bars and houses or as they walked home from work.

Initial reports said the Mungiki were avenging the killing of two of their own on Saturday morning in a confrontation with a vigilante group that operates in the area.

Leaders were at a loss to explain how a 300-strong gang, armed with crude weapons, could descend on defenceless people and wreak havoc for three hours without the intervention of the security forces.

And as calm returned to Kariobangi North, Mungiki denied they were involved in the grisly killings. But Assistant Minister Fred Gumo and Minister Shariff Nassir charged that the sect had a political agenda in perpetrating the killings.

The killing of 23 people in Kariobangi North by Mungiki sect members elicited bitter and furious reaction from a cross-section of Kenyans.

Religious leaders, politicians and Nairobi residents were unanimous that the mayhem had become a major security threat.

Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki said despite receiving reports of the impending attack, police treated the matter casually and only mobilized its forces after the damage had been done.

Ford People presidential candidate, Mr Simeon Nyachae, wondered whether Mungiki was above the law .

Nyachae expressed outrage and disappointment at what he described as "indefensible heinous act of cold-blooded brutality by human beings against others."

He said Kenya is soon turning into a jungle where human life matters little to others and ordinary people are mere statistics. "Mungiki youth and their hirelings have been having running battles with the rest of society for a long time now while security forces have watched feigning helplessness," he said.

Ford Kenya Nairobi branch chairman Ferdinand Wanyonyi said the lorries used to ferry the groups to Kariobangi should be identified and their owners arrested.

Dagoretti MP, Beth Mugo, called for an urgent meeting between the Provincial Administration and Nairobi leaders to address the problem of rising insecurity.

Speaking at his Holy Family Basilica office, Ndingi questioned how 300 armed people, transported in lorries, can descend on an area without the intervention of the security forces.