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Govt Promises Tough Action Against Mungiki Followers
The East African Standard (Kenya), Jan. 14, 2003
http://allafrica.com/
The Government is determined to eliminate the violent Mungiki sect, Minister Chris Murungaru said yesterday.
And he assured Kenyans that stern action will be taken against the errant sect people.
Murungaru, a Minister of State in the Office of the President in charge of Provincial Administration and National Security, said the Commissioner of Police has been instructed to deal firmly with Mungiki.
“I reiterate the resolve of the Government on the Mungiki issue. It is clear and irrevocable.
“The Government is determined to eliminate it. It is an illegal organisation,” Murungaru said.
A week ago, Mungiki people killed 23 innocents in Nakuru and two more in Murang’a. In 2001, Mungiki killed over 20 people in Nairobi’s Kariobangi area.
Mungiki people were said to have been exacting revenge in both the Nakuru and Kariobangi incidents.
Murungaru warned that should the police not comply, appropriate measures would be taken against them.
The minister consulted with President Kibaki several times in the day before he finally spelt out the Government’s stand on the terror sect.
He revealed that police have so far arrested 239 Mungiki people following the Nakuru and Murang’a killings. He said 170 Mungiki were arrested in Rift Valley, 37 in Central Province and 32 in Nairobi.
He, however, said that police have been unable to track down Mungiki National Chairman, Mr Maina Njenga and the National Co-ordinator, Mr Ndura Waruinge.
The minister was, however, at a loss to explain if the shoot-to-kill order issued by the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, Mr Peter Raburu, was in order.
He said what the PC meant was that if Mungiki threatened the lives of police and innocent Kenyans, then they would be shot.
On a threat by a member of the sect, Mr Mohammed Murimi, to fight back if the Government dared crack down on them, Murungaru said that no such group as Mungiki or any other militia group has the resources to fight the Government.
“That was just a threat which cannot be accomplished by the group. The Government has the capacity to deal with Mungiki,” the minister said.
He said that the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) Government was aware that some members of the previous government were associated with the outlawed sect.
“We are aware that some members of the previous government were associated with Mungiki,” Murungaru said.
He urged Mungiki leaders to take advantage of the amnesty and surrender to the police.
Reacting to Embakasi legislator’s David Mwenje’s statement that the Government should leave Mungiki alone, Murungaru said that the MP was doing it contrary to the party’s policy.
He said that if it is found that Mwenje had committed a crime then appropriate action would be taken against him.
Mwenje, on his part, beat a hasty retreat and disowned the sect. He vehemently denied any association with the sect and said he has not been sympathetic to their course at any time.
He dismissed media reports that quoted him as saying the Government should leave Mungiki people alone as “false, baseless and out to malign me.”
Addressing a Press conference at Parliament Buildings, an angry Mwenje demanded an apology from a local daily which carried the report.
Accompanied by Starehe MP Maina Kamanda, Mwenje maintained that what he said was that those manning matatu termini in Dandora were not Mungiki and should thus be left to go on with their work.
“These are boys employed by matatu owners and they have played a great role in restoring order at the various matatu stages in Dandora,” said Mwenje.
He claimed there are no Mungiki along the Dandora route and those out to cause problems are the Kamjesh group.
“I will never support or allow Mungiki to interfere with matatu operations in Dandora or anywhere,” he said.
Forty-one people among them six women have meanwhile been arraigned in a Nyahururu court charged with being members of the outlawed sect. The suspects denied membership of the sect when they appeared before the local Principal Magistrate Mr Kathoka Ngomo.
The charges against the accused persons stated that on diverse dates and places, they were found being members of an unlawful society.
Out of the 41 suspects, 23 of them were arrested in Ng’arua, three in Rumuruti, seven in Ol-moran and eight in Nyahururu division over the weekend.
Two elderly women Mary Muthoni and Rael Wanjiru were released on a Sh30,000 bond each with a surety of similar amount.
The court clerk, Mrs Florence Muthoni, was forced to interpret the charges in Kikuyu language as the women could neither understand Kiswahili nor English.
Other accused persons aged between 30 and 60 years were remanded in police custody until February 3, when their cases will be mentioned.
The arrests follows orders issued by Raburu to police officers to crack down on Mungiki sect members. He ordered for the shooting of any suspects who resisted arrest.
Meanwhile, the Mungiki shrine in Ng’arua division has not been demolished as ordered by Raburu last week when he toured the area.
The local District Officer, Mr Daniel Nyameti, said the Divisional Security Committee was awaiting forensic experts to check for any arms before demolishing the shrine.
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