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As you read this there are some Kenyans just like you trying to come to terms with what has happened over the last few days.
To start with these families now have to prepare their dead for burial by somehow finding the head of the deceased and then finding the rest of the body and somehow bringing them together in the coffin. Imagine how distressing that must be, going to the police station and mortuary and telling them which body belongs to which head.
The horror of beheading (last seen in these shores carried out by the Mau Mau shortly before the emergency was declared in 1952) needs to be witnessed to be fully understood. In fact in one instance, a victim’s head was rescued from some dogs that were already hungrily feeding on it.
I am trying very hard not to say “I told you so,” but for today let me dwell on a few things that the government must do immediately, assuming that we have a government that is responsible and cares more for its’ citizens than about winning elections.
(i) Issue a comprehensive statement telling Kenyans exactly what the Mungiki movement is, where they came from, why they were formed and by whom. They should name names and spill ALL the beans.
(ii) The same government should call for a gathering of Mungikis and anti-Mungiki elements and sit down and listen to what the people have to say. It is easy to call the Mungiki terrorists but the truth is that they have their side of the story. That story I will tell in full here tomorrow. But for now I can tell you that it has to do with land and joblessness and the desperation that many ordinary Kenyans feel. The government should then negotiate for a settlement. Please note that failure to do this will mean that the Mungiki sect. (Yes, it is a sect and movement and you don’t destroy those by arresting a few people and charging them with murder) will continue to thrive in Kenya for years to come.
(iii) The same government should declare the Mungiki violence and all the other land/political related violence in the country a national disaster and then start dealing with it from that level.
(iv) A special committee at cabinet level should be quickly formed to address the Mungiki national crisis and to ensure that they do not influence other frustrated youths countrywide to join them. Let us bear in mind that what we have here is a burning match that is already too close to the spilt petrol.
Tomorrow exclusively in Kumekucha: Who the Mungiki are, why they were formed and by whom. Don’t miss it
Oh poor Kenyan is profusely bleeding and staring death in the face. Who will rescure my motherland?
ReplyDeleteThe Mungiki menace is an exploded time bomb. We saw it ticking and turned our eyes the other side clamouring to secure votes. Mungiki is a product of our hell for leather mentality coupled with shameless inequality in our midst. These chaps can’t fathom the idea of going hungry while next door somebody is thinking of a weekend shopping in Dubai or Paris. We are the second most unequal society after Brazil and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Mungiki maybe associated with a particular region but their problem is spread all over the country only. It all started with betraying the tenets on which we fought for independence. Kenyatta betrayed the ideals, Moi watered the vice the vice and Kibaki is unwittingly fuelling it further by ignoring it. Simply put Mungiki is the symptom of the ogre we have nurtured in our selfish pursuits of good lives. As the name aptly translates to the mass, Mungiki may just be the speaker for the silent majority who are only waiting for the umbers to set the country aflame.
Imagining a chopped head sends an obtuse chill down one’s spine and the sight can only be gruesome for lack of a better word. These are signs of a failed leadership that only thrives on shouting tokenism which only benefits the minority fat-cats. Today it is Mungikiand next will be Taliban, then Kamjesh, Sungu Sungu and what remains will make Rwanda of 1994 look like a pulpit.
We cannot afford to ignore Mungiki especially on an election year when these thugs become handy in settling cheap political scores. Beheading may be their warped sense of marketing themselves for the coming electioneering months. But when a gang that organized kills even policemen then we have all the reasons to be very afraid.
The government must stop at nothing to stop the killing and urgently address the underlying issues. Pretending otherwise would be akin to immaculately plastering a festering wound without dressing it first. These are troubled times that calls for wholesome resolve to save our country. But are those charged with the responsibility upto the task? Your guess is as good as mine. This is not being insensitive to the dead and the bereaved. Reality and the truth are often ugly and must be looked at unaided.
Kindly speaking, Mungiki is a bad thing to deal with and talk about in this forum. I feel for the situiation at home. Honestly, can someone tell me their agenda. if tribal, why? Why are they not prevalent in Nyanza, Western and Ukambani or Taita. Why Central Kenya.?
ReplyDeleteI dont want to rub people the wrong side, let me pen off. I am pissed off. I am ashamed. Pole kwa wote walioadhiriwa!!!
Many a time have I heard pple who live in areas grossly affected by the mungiki menace praising or trying to defend them.
ReplyDeleteNow that they are a fully armed and very well organised force....you would think that it would scare those who live among them
But alas some would rather be slaughtered in the name of defending one of their own.and its the same attitude politicians in those areas have.
so if they dont feel mungiki should be interfered with and they are the ones being affected.what to do??
Taabu after reading your regular posts for so many months I am yet to fault you objectivity. You NEVER mention not point fingers at individuals (except when your detractors chose to read mischief out of self-guilt). But in all fairness this Mungiki stuff can't be sanitized. This guys must be brutally stopped at whatever cost, no sugar-coating even from their fellow tribesmen. Kenya is too small for these murderous lot yet too big for all of us who are peace loving. No tribal apologies please.
ReplyDeleteWhat a transparent blackmail Bw Taabu clone? All the same thanks for the fluttery (the smartest imitation). Cry for bleeding Kenya.
ReplyDeleteMugiki is a by product of the tribal clashes that started in 1992, there is approximately 500 000 kiku who were evicted from there farms in Molo and other parts of the country, this young men who formed Mugiki were witness to there relations been dismembered by the Moi people, so let it not surprise any one that they are capable of being so violent.
ReplyDeleteBut what we have seen is just a ticking time bomb the injustice in Kenya with it structures setup at the point of our independence will have major consequences if the rich continue to eat and collude with foreigners to keep majority of Kenyan in slums, by stashing billions of shillings in foreign lands. Hunger and desperation will set forth a damn bloody revolution.
We remember a confident Ndura Waruinge boasting of a membership consisting of millions, including cabinet ministers and MPs, and that raising a billion shillings in cash is an overnight affair for mungiki. It is therefore not suprising for cabinet ministers to issue conflicting statements on the subject of mungiki.
ReplyDeleteLegit matatu operators have suffered compulsory taxation from mungiki for many years, yet it is only now that the press is highlighting these issues.
Recent bank heists, car-jackings,cash-in-transit roberies, police murders can all be linked to mungiki. They have a large active membership. Anyone who betrayed the cult is punished by death.
Government has regular police, Admin Police, CID, provincial admin, general service unit, NSIS and of course independent informers at its disposal. Mungiki leaders are in custody. Unless there is complicity, why should this menace prove so difficult to eradicate?