Mungiki
Encyclopedia
Mungiki is a politico-religious group and a banned criminal organization in Kenya
. The name means "A united people" or "multitude
" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. Specifics of their origin and doctrines are unclear. What is clear is that they favor a return to indigenous African traditions. They reject Westernisation and all things that they believe to be trappings of colonialism
, including Christianity
. The ideology of the group is characterised by revolutionary rhetoric, Kikuyu traditions, and a disdain for Kenyan modernization
, which is seen as immoral corruption. Mungiki is often referred to as Kenya’s Cosa Nostra, Yakuza
, or Kenyan Mafia due to its organization. They have been newsworthy for associations with ethnic violence and anti-government resistance.
The founders supposedly modelled Mungiki on the Mau Mau fighters who fought British colonial rule. During the 1990s, the group had migrated into Nairobi with the acceptance of the government under Daniel arap Moi
and began to dominate the matatu
(private minibus taxi) industry. With the move to Nairobi
came the development of a cell structure within the group. Each cell contains 50 members and each cell is then divided into 5 platoons. Using the matatus as a springboard, the group moved into other areas of commerce, such as rubbish collection, construction, and even protection racketeering. Inevitably, the group's actions led to involvement with politicians eager for more support. In 2002, Mungiki backed losing candidates in elections and felt the wrath of the government. The group's activities became less visible although it still received revenue from protection taxes, electricity taxes and water taxes. There have been unconfirmed allegations that Mungiki has links to both the old KANU
government and some MPs
in the current government. In fact, because of the cult's extreme secrecy, little is known about its membership or hierarchy
.
Many members state that at the height of its influence, the group could claim as many as 500,000 members and received substantial sums of money. Many Kenyans debate whether the group's influence in Nairobi
is waning or is on the rise.
, Nairobi's second largest slum
, where poverty and crime are pronounced, but it is also in Kayole'Murang'a
District and Ruai, Nairobi [waithaka, dagoretti], Kinoo and Westlands. A recent Inter Press Service
article vividly describes Mungiki operations in that slum as essentially constituting a "street gang" or a criminal network that contributes to, and feeds off of, an environment plagued by a state of perpetual security crisis. Every resident of the slum pays a variable sum of money to the organization, in exchange for protection against theft and property damage. In addition, the gang "mans" public toilets, and charges a fee for use of the facilities. Such acts of extortion
, along with the general lack of effective local law enforcement, have generally enraged residents of Mathare.
More than 50 people died in 2002 in clashes involving the sect and owners of matatus
in Nairobi
alone. In 2002 the sect was banned and in February 2003, the sect was in the news following two days of clashes with Nairobi police which left at least two officers dead and 74 sect members in police custody. In June 2007, the Mungiki embarked upon a murderous campaign to instil fear by beheading matatu drivers, conductors, and Mungiki defectors,and those who refuse their recruitment, drawing an armed response from Kenyan security forces, who stormed the Mathare area. Some 100 people died in the operation.
Mungiki has also been linked to the murder of a family in the USA in which Mrs Jane Kurua, 47, and her two daughters were killed; the case is still under investigation by the FBI. On 12 July 2007 Kenyan authorities reported that Mungiki decapitated and mutilated the body of a two-year-old boy, possibly as part of a ritual.
It is alleged that Mungiki members participated in targeted violence against ethnic Luo
s around the time of the disputed December 2007 presidential elections
.
. Meanwhile, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
linked the police to the execution of 500 Mungiki over the previous five months. The police described these reports as fictitious. On 5 March 2009, Oscar Foundation Director Oscar Kamau Kingara
and Programme Coordinator John Paul Oulo were shot and killed while en route to a meeting at the offices of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
in Nairobi. Earlier that day, a government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, had publicly accused their organisation of being a fundraising front for Mungiki.
Mungiki chairman Maina Njenga was acquitted on October 27, 2009 as murder charges on him were withdrawn for lack of evidence. About a week later Mungiki spokesman David Gitau Njuguna was shot dead in Nairobi by unknown assailants.
came into power, the government gave the military leadership three days to explain why ten of their Land Rovers were given to the outlawed Mungiki sect. In the lead up to the General Election
, then Chief of the General Staff
General Joseph Kibwana was asked to investigate the scandal in person and present his findings to the Office of the President. The report was to detail the value of the ten vehicles, who got them, and why they were disposed of. Military sources at the time said that the orders were issued by National Security minister Chris Murungaru
during a meeting with General Kibwana and other top generals at the Department of Defence headquarters in Nairobi. The issue of Land Rovers cropped up when Murungaru made his first familiarisation tour of the DoD, a month after Narc came to power.
Murungaru, who as security minister was responsible for the military, reportedly expressed shock that a cartel
of high-ranking officers could have been involved in subversive activities by diverting the Land Rovers to Mungiki, as detailed in a Daily Nation
report on the scandal. Senior DoD officials involved in the cartel were said to have held secret talks shortly before Dr. Murungaru arrived to plan their next course of action. The report and its findings have never been made public.
The Department of Defence has since been converted into the Ministry of Defense with hon Yusuf Haji at the helm.
The report also recommends that people cited, including minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and Muthaura should face a local judiciary or the International Criminal Court(ICC).
, as the sect does not allow defection
; all initiates have to swear a standard oath ending with the words "May I die if I desert or reveal our secrets." There were also many cases of forced initiation which went up significantly after the 2007 presidential elections.
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. The name means "A united people" or "multitude
Multitude
Multitude is a political term first used by Machiavelli and reiterated by Spinoza. Recently the term has returned to prominence because of its conceptualization as a new model of resistance against the global capitalist system as described by political theorists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in...
" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. Specifics of their origin and doctrines are unclear. What is clear is that they favor a return to indigenous African traditions. They reject Westernisation and all things that they believe to be trappings of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, including Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The ideology of the group is characterised by revolutionary rhetoric, Kikuyu traditions, and a disdain for Kenyan modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
, which is seen as immoral corruption. Mungiki is often referred to as Kenya’s Cosa Nostra, Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
, or Kenyan Mafia due to its organization. They have been newsworthy for associations with ethnic violence and anti-government resistance.
History
According to one of Mungiki's founders, the group began in the late 1980s as a local militia in the highlands to protect Kikuyu farmers in disputes over land with Maasai and with forces loyal to the government, which was dominated by the Kalenjin tribe at the time. Mungiki arguably has its roots in discontent arising from severe unemployment and landlessness arising from Kenya's rapid population growth, with many disaffected unemployed youth attracted to an organisation giving them a sense of purpose and cultural and political identity, as well as income.The founders supposedly modelled Mungiki on the Mau Mau fighters who fought British colonial rule. During the 1990s, the group had migrated into Nairobi with the acceptance of the government under Daniel arap Moi
Daniel arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was the President of Kenya from 1978 until 2002.Daniel arap Moi is popularly known to Kenyans as 'Nyayo', a Swahili word for 'footsteps'...
and began to dominate the matatu
Matatu
In Kenya and neighboring nations matatu are privately owned minibuses although pick-up trucks were in the past pressed into service as these East African share taxis. Often decorated, many matatu feature portraits of the famous or slogans and sayings, some religious.These minibuses ply set routes,...
(private minibus taxi) industry. With the move to Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
came the development of a cell structure within the group. Each cell contains 50 members and each cell is then divided into 5 platoons. Using the matatus as a springboard, the group moved into other areas of commerce, such as rubbish collection, construction, and even protection racketeering. Inevitably, the group's actions led to involvement with politicians eager for more support. In 2002, Mungiki backed losing candidates in elections and felt the wrath of the government. The group's activities became less visible although it still received revenue from protection taxes, electricity taxes and water taxes. There have been unconfirmed allegations that Mungiki has links to both the old KANU
Kenya African National Union
The Kenya African National Union, better known as KANU is a political party which ruled Kenya for nearly 40 years after its independence from British colonial rule in 1963, until its electoral loss at the end of 2002...
government and some MPs
MPS
MPS may refer to:* Robinson List, aka Mail Preference Service, direct mail opt-out system* Malmin Palloseura, association football club from Helsinki, Finland.* Marginal propensity to save* Master Production Schedule...
in the current government. In fact, because of the cult's extreme secrecy, little is known about its membership or hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
.
Many members state that at the height of its influence, the group could claim as many as 500,000 members and received substantial sums of money. Many Kenyans debate whether the group's influence in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
is waning or is on the rise.
Extortion and ethnic violence
Mungiki operates most extensively in MathareMathare
Mathare is a collection of slums in Nairobi, Kenya with a population of approximately 500,000 people; the population of Mathare Valley alone, the oldest of the slums that make up Mathare, is 180,000 people...
, Nairobi's second largest slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
, where poverty and crime are pronounced, but it is also in Kayole'Murang'a
Murang'a
Murang'a is a town in Central Province of Kenya. The town was previously called Fort Hall. It is the administrative centre of Murang'a District and is mainly inhabited by the Kikuyu community....
District and Ruai, Nairobi [waithaka, dagoretti], Kinoo and Westlands. A recent Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service
Inter Press Service is a global news agency. Its main focus is the production of independent news and analysis about events and processes affecting economic, social and political development....
article vividly describes Mungiki operations in that slum as essentially constituting a "street gang" or a criminal network that contributes to, and feeds off of, an environment plagued by a state of perpetual security crisis. Every resident of the slum pays a variable sum of money to the organization, in exchange for protection against theft and property damage. In addition, the gang "mans" public toilets, and charges a fee for use of the facilities. Such acts of extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
, along with the general lack of effective local law enforcement, have generally enraged residents of Mathare.
More than 50 people died in 2002 in clashes involving the sect and owners of matatus
Matatu
In Kenya and neighboring nations matatu are privately owned minibuses although pick-up trucks were in the past pressed into service as these East African share taxis. Often decorated, many matatu feature portraits of the famous or slogans and sayings, some religious.These minibuses ply set routes,...
in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
alone. In 2002 the sect was banned and in February 2003, the sect was in the news following two days of clashes with Nairobi police which left at least two officers dead and 74 sect members in police custody. In June 2007, the Mungiki embarked upon a murderous campaign to instil fear by beheading matatu drivers, conductors, and Mungiki defectors,and those who refuse their recruitment, drawing an armed response from Kenyan security forces, who stormed the Mathare area. Some 100 people died in the operation.
Mungiki has also been linked to the murder of a family in the USA in which Mrs Jane Kurua, 47, and her two daughters were killed; the case is still under investigation by the FBI. On 12 July 2007 Kenyan authorities reported that Mungiki decapitated and mutilated the body of a two-year-old boy, possibly as part of a ritual.
It is alleged that Mungiki members participated in targeted violence against ethnic Luo
Luo (family of ethnic groups)
The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...
s around the time of the disputed December 2007 presidential elections
Kenyan presidential election, 2007
A presidential election was held as part of the Kenyan general election on December 27, 2007; parliamentary elections were held on the same date. Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner and sworn in on December 30, despite opposition leader Raila Odinga's claims of victory...
.
Police Response
In November 2007, a human-rights group called the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic-Kenya reported that in the five years up to August 2007, Kenyan police had killed over 8,000 people in crackdowns against the Mungiki sect, with further 4,000 people still missing. These allegations were based on interviews, autopsies, and police reports, and were widely circulated both in Kenya and through an appeal to the International Criminal CourtInternational Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
. Meanwhile, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous national human rights institution established by a Kenyan Act of Parliament in 2002. KNCHR became operational in July 2003...
linked the police to the execution of 500 Mungiki over the previous five months. The police described these reports as fictitious. On 5 March 2009, Oscar Foundation Director Oscar Kamau Kingara
Oscar Kamau Kingara
Oscar Kamau Kingara was a Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist. Kingara was the founder and director of the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic, a human rights organization based in Nairobi...
and Programme Coordinator John Paul Oulo were shot and killed while en route to a meeting at the offices of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous national human rights institution established by a Kenyan Act of Parliament in 2002. KNCHR became operational in July 2003...
in Nairobi. Earlier that day, a government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, had publicly accused their organisation of being a fundraising front for Mungiki.
Mungiki chairman Maina Njenga was acquitted on October 27, 2009 as murder charges on him were withdrawn for lack of evidence. About a week later Mungiki spokesman David Gitau Njuguna was shot dead in Nairobi by unknown assailants.
Factional Fighting
In 2007, Mungiki was rumoured to have fractured into two groups. In spite of the peace gestures of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the dramatic murders of the top Mungiki leaders continued, and police also denied involvement in the assassinations. The Chairman and Treasurer of the Kenya National Youth Alliance (Maina Njenga faction) were gunned down at Uplands after a car chase on the Nairobi – Naivasha highway. The Kenya National Youth Alliance (KNYA) served as Mungiki’s political wing. According to relatives, Wagacha and Irungu were driving to Naivasha Prison, where Mungiki leader Maina Njenga is serving a jail term, to consult him over possible talks with the government, proposed by Prime Minister Odinga. The relatives said that elements in the government are using the police to ensure negotiations fail, hence the killings. However, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe denied the claims. At least 500 bodies of suspected Mungiki members have since been discovered in thickets outside Nairobi in the past year. Police say that the recent mysterious deaths of Mungiki leaders were a result of infighting between various Mungiki factions over control of funds and differing political positions. The Mungiki leadership, however, denied the split within their ranks.Department of Defense and National Intelligence Service involvement
In early 2003, soon after Mwai KibakiMwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki is the current and third President of the republic of Kenya.Kibaki was previously Vice President of Kenya for ten years from 1978–1988 and also held cabinet ministerial positions, including a widely acclaimed stint as Minister for Finance , Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for...
came into power, the government gave the military leadership three days to explain why ten of their Land Rovers were given to the outlawed Mungiki sect. In the lead up to the General Election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, then Chief of the General Staff
Chief of the General Staff (Kenya)
The Chief of The General staff is the highest ranking military officer in the Kenya Armed forces and the principal military adviser to the President of the Republic of Kenya and the National Security Council. The CGS outranks all respective heads of each service branch and has operational command...
General Joseph Kibwana was asked to investigate the scandal in person and present his findings to the Office of the President. The report was to detail the value of the ten vehicles, who got them, and why they were disposed of. Military sources at the time said that the orders were issued by National Security minister Chris Murungaru
Chris Murungaru
Dr Christopher Ndarathi "Chris" Murungaru is a Kenyan politician, a former Member of Parliament for Kieni Constituency in Nyeri District and a former Minister of Transport....
during a meeting with General Kibwana and other top generals at the Department of Defence headquarters in Nairobi. The issue of Land Rovers cropped up when Murungaru made his first familiarisation tour of the DoD, a month after Narc came to power.
Murungaru, who as security minister was responsible for the military, reportedly expressed shock that a cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
of high-ranking officers could have been involved in subversive activities by diverting the Land Rovers to Mungiki, as detailed in a Daily Nation
Daily Nation
The Daily Nation is a Kenyan independent newspaper. It is the most influential newspaper in Kenya with a daily circulation of about 205,000 copies. The total readership is likely to be higher as each copy is read by a large number of people...
report on the scandal. Senior DoD officials involved in the cartel were said to have held secret talks shortly before Dr. Murungaru arrived to plan their next course of action. The report and its findings have never been made public.
The Department of Defence has since been converted into the Ministry of Defense with hon Yusuf Haji at the helm.
The Waki Report
A commission set up to investigate the 2008 post-election violence reported that Mungiki members were suspected of perpetrating the violence. The Waki Report states that a meeting was held in Statehouse to coordinate revenge on Luos and Kalenjins.The report also recommends that people cited, including minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and Muthaura should face a local judiciary or the International Criminal Court(ICC).
Exile
Many former Mungiki members are believed to have fled the country seeking asylumRight of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
, as the sect does not allow defection
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
; all initiates have to swear a standard oath ending with the words "May I die if I desert or reveal our secrets." There were also many cases of forced initiation which went up significantly after the 2007 presidential elections.
External links
- "Armed and Dangerous: Kenya's armed groups, IRIN, 22 February 2008"
- Kenyan women beaten for 'unAfrican' behaviour
- Kenyan women protest at 'trouser police'
- BBC News, "Profile: Kenya's Secretive Mungiki Sect", 11 February 2003
- Dr. James Santucci's Mungiki site
- CNN.com, "6 beheadings blamed on sect shock Kenyans", 22 May 2007
- The Standard (Nairobi), "Kenya: It's Bloodbath As Police Strike Back At Mungiki", 6 June 2007
- The Mungiki - Cult, Street Gang or Political Force?
- Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special