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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Mungiki An Embarrassment To The Kikuyus

Somebody accused the house of Mumbi of being too silent on the Mungiki menace. Maybe it’s true but that’s not necessarily out of sympathy for the sect. I’d say it’s more out of embarrassment. As much as I’m not making a statement for the Kikuyu community, I believe I speak for the majority when I say that nobody wants to have a brother who beheads and skins people and then comes home for dinner. And nobody, regardless of tribe, wants to be beheaded or skinned. Majority of Kikuyu families are Christians and do not believe in or follow the Mungiki doctrines.

Blanket condemnation of the whole tribe as pro-mungiki and therefore deserving of the violence visited upon them by their sons is plain unfair. There are thousands of disappointed parents, brothers and sisters all over Central Kenya and beyond. Given a choice every parent would want their children to grow and make a meaningful life for themselves. Instead they have become the community’s worst curse. The whole meaningful life thing is increasingly becoming a mirage in this country due to poor levels of education, land grabbing, corruption and high levels of poverty among other things.

It’s not fun being a Kikuyu right now. Central Province is gripped by fear. In some areas it is safer not to even speak about Mungiki because you never know who is a sympathizer. Other than the obvious threats that have been spread through leaflets there are also the rumours doing the rounds that Mungiki will from now on start indiscriminately seizing young girls and circumcising them. There are massive losses especially for milk farmers and matatu operators. In my home village, the old faithful lorry that collects milk at 4.00 every morning has not shown up for some days now. Who will go out at that hour?

The thing is the average Kikuyu is as much a victim as anyone else. Many Kikuyus who were happy that Mungiki revenged for the killings in Eldoret are singing a different song now. Emotions were high then and they have since taken time to reflect on the heinousness of the crimes that their sons committed.

Finally it was an insult for Kiraithe (he of the Rambo Movie fame) to come on TV and tell Kenyans that they have allowed themselves to play into the hands of the Mungiki by keeping their shops closed and their matatus off the road. What in the name of the good Lord did the police spokesman expect the shop owners to do? Open the shops anyway? Bring the matatus into town and risk having them razed? It is bad enough for the police to be seemingly doing nothing about the menace but to then try to shift the blame to mwananchi? The same policemen who were running away from the Mungiki in Thika the other day?

51 comments:

  1. Ciku cops were not running away from Mungiku but the later running away from rivals. It is difficult to know who is Mungiki in in uniform and real police. Anybody with a heart cannot dare ululate at the pain of others. Kenya is only suffering from overdose of DECEPTION. When the ruling elite blind us to reality and rope our lips in defense of their deceptive ways. When the monster mutates and starts sucking own blood we yell.

    You are right Mungikis is an embarassment to most right thinking Kikuyus. But you will be surprised to learn that quite number still still overtly or covertly subscribe to their HEROISM, if you know what I mean. And there comes the politician.

    Leaves you wondering why some people are so good at globalizing a local problem. Kenya becomes handy to serve secterian (tribal) interests. Speak of the smart tick knowing when to make the host feel valuable. We live in interesting times, don't we?

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  2. Wanjiku, I like the way you cut through the crap and tell it like it is. M-Pesa and Kimi Wotsit, you can learn a lot from this sister.

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  3. Thanks Taabu for the correction. Cops were not running away from Mungiki but from their rivals within the force.

    Very interesting times Taabu. I've heard quite a number gleefully thanking the Mungiki for the Naivasha killings. These are the same people who will vote known Mungiki politicians back into parliament.

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  4. 6.15 i agree. wanjiku tells it as it is.

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  5. I dont subscribe to poverty to all the problem we have in Kenya. Sierra Leone is a struggling country that looks like just kakamega or nyeri in a better day, has just come from war, no power, no industry to create jobs, and folks discuss arsenal and man u from morning till cows come home fior lack of nothing else today, yet you can walk the streets of freetown talking on your mobile at 12 midnight. Its the same in liberia and guinea conakry.

    Ours is a society of lazy bastards who thrive on threats as they enrich themselves, a society where free things are glorified and hard despised, a society where if you have-you must have stolen, a society where sweat is desopised, a society where when i have it and you dont have - i must have stolen. A society where where a when a problem arises - its them and not us. Fellow kenyans mungiki, mt elgon, chikoro, jeshi la mzee, etc are people who share a common hate for hard work and sweat to get what is duly theirs. They cannot go mijengo(construction), they cannot go and pick coffee and tea, they dont want to work in the country side - rather they expect to get 10 bob from a matatu, blood money from businesses for protection etc.

    As this blog celebrates violence and castigation of a community, please remember violence knows no boundaries. Cheer the kyuks as they are being exterminated by election violence and now mungiki - cheer them, but remember once they are no longer in the face of kenya - teh same goons will turn on you. Before you realise kenya will not be there. Please lets reduce this heroism of hate. Lets embrace peace.

    The civil society should go and talk to these people. They are their advocates. They never care for police. They dont understand police have parents, children and brothers and sisters. These people depend on them. Can the civil society condemn whats going on whether. Why teh pretence.

    It takes you and me to create peace. Kenya, no matter how long it will live - wil live with its history. Methinks the curse of kenya is the elites, elites in this blog, univeristies, corporates and politicians - you are the curse of Kenya. Mungiki will come and kill because the police dont want to be called trigger ghappy - yet the person they are engaging with is loaded to death - yet say the guys run away from police. Wouldnt you the same, when you remeber your daughter, sone, mother etc. Whats the reason of engaging then - and tommorrow you go to court minus a job - and they call you trigger happy. What a life. Kenyas security proble are a result of too much democracy, too much inetrference by human rights organisation etc. Soon you will hear nyongo call for negotiation like they did last year. Negotiation!!

    Na bado

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  6. To Wanjiku Unlimited.

    U have said nothing, but the truth as it is.

    However, this is ma question to u and all ma Gema brothers and sisters. I say brothers and sisters because I am one of u.

    Now, what kind of community are we that we can be silenced such that no one is talking about Mungiki cos we do not know who is a member or not?

    I do think, this trait, of HINGA among us, is the reason other tribes are targetting us. So, we are a community that is comfortable keeping silent over such crimes because we we do not know who is who?

    How can other tribes trust us if we cannot have trust among ourselves?

    Mwarang'the

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  7. Kibaki and his cronies ni "zimwi likujuwalo halikuli lika kwisha"Wanjiku were you not the same person who was singing blues the other day when the burrel was facing the opposite side?? You people are cursed you think about the pain and atrocities commited to families of Katana Nkala,JM Kariuki,what you did to Jaramogi and the list goes on and on and on it's too early to forget,these were the ngorokos who killed these people your same sect of people but indisguise of mungikis.You are cursed people until you repent and ask forgiveness to these people whom you've wronged in the past the devil will hunt you forever.

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  8. seriously !I'm not sure what exactly you are trying to say- rewind back to December, Jan, Feb, who had most loss in Kenya?? and were being told day in and day out that the kikuyu's will unleash their mungiki super hero's on other tribes in other provinces???
    and when they committed genocide in Naivasha and Nakuru-the kikuyu's said nothing ad kept shouting revange revenge!! ad the revenge took more than 600 lifes in this two towns by mungiki hands.
    Then do not forget those non-kikuyu's that were killed in central province by mungiki's reports are trickling in that more than 160 people killed all over central province by mungiki between dec 27 and march but i didn't hear anyone from central province condemn them,non kikuyu's mourned and buried but the kikuyu's kept on saying kazi iendelea they are still working and making money while the rest of kenya was fighting and burning and uprooting railway line.

    you see kikuyu arrogance and the hate the showed other remorse or soul to the other tribes who were burying their dead day in day out from NAIVASHA NAKURU KIBERA AND NOW MT. ELgon

    and even now you call them an embarrassment not criminal terrorist gang even when they hold your towns at ransom??? but all their is to it from the kikuyu stand point is mungiki is an embarrassment!!how quint!!I remember other tribes warning you that they are coming for us killing as now because you send them to do so but soon they will come for you kikuyu's and you laughed and threatened that you will unleash the mungiki on them- but mungiki has it's own mind- it knows who wronged the "Kikuyu Members of Parliament who used them and the kikuyu elite " so it is pay back time and you better listen to them- mungiki actually says it is fighting for what was taken away from their fore fathers and mau mau veterans- Land and also the in equality of the distribution of the national cake- in kikuyu few elite families controlling it!!mungiki is a central problem and they should look for those people in the central community that they feel wrong or stole from them!!i feel no pity for central province they deserve the mungiki mania

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  9. "WE ARE ALL AMERICANS,"... was the headline of French newspaper Le Monde on September 12, 2001. That was after the Twin Towers attack by Kamikaze Muslim terrorists.

    And I say "WE ARE ALL KIKUYUS NOW!" Yes it's Nyumba ya Mumbi who are bearing the brunt of Mungiki's sickening and despicable evil actions but we must show unity and compassion and stop saying it's merely a Kikuyu problem. United we stand, divided we fall!

    Nice article Wanjiku!

    Nimesema.

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  10. Mwarang'the

    You are the first to pinpoint the problem squarely. Thank you very much for that very bold statement.

    The issue that has brought about so much resentment against Kikuyus is in one word TRUST or lack of it. No other community can attempt to use Kikuyu and trust in the same sentence. And now as you correctly point out, even Kikuyus do not trust each other, but somehow want other tribes to trust them with leadership.

    You Mwarang'the, are one in a million.

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  11. Wanjiku ,A well expressed and entirely correct view.

    SimSim

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  12. just received this in my inbox. Interesting!

    LETTER TO H.E MWAI KIBAKI FROM MUNGIKI.


    Your Excellency,it gives me great pleasure to write to you this afternoon,even as your 40-member cabinet is being sworn in. I'm sure Your Excellency has received alot of briefing on the state of the country. As one of your men on the ground,I wish to inform you,that all is well. Sir,much of what you have picked up from your secret service agents and the media is all hogwash and imagination.



    Your Excellency,you must not believe media lies that there is transport crisis in the country no matter how many pictures they cook up and show you. I am glad Your Excellency does not even watch TV,it's bad for your eyes. How can there be a crisis? Your Excellency has never seen matatus or any commuters waiting for transport outside State House or even Harambee House. Why then should you be cheated that there is in deed a crisis?



    Your Excellency,out of the 33 or so million Kenyans,about 5 milion are school children who are already on vacation and don't have to travel. Your Excellency,almost 20 million or more Kenyans are jobless and don't have to move out of their compounds. Where would they be going? Your Excellency,out of the 10 million or so working Kenyans,most of them work in their neighbourhoods and don't need public or any other means of transport.



    Your Excellency,the economy has performed very well. 5 million or even more Kenyans have their own cars,others,including you have 2 to 20. You have been informed Yoru Excellency,that the Mungiki are targeting only the Matatus,leaving those in private cars to enjoy sanity on the roads. Yes,for once,Mungiki have brought sanity on our roads something that all transport ministers have failed to do. With matatus out of the roads,this is great improvement on our transport system.



    Your Excellency,Matatus are for the pauper and the derivatives,fellow who don't even contribute anything much to this economy,remember Your Excellency calls them Mafi ya kuku. Sir,matatu users should never give you and your Hon cabinet sleepless nights. Your Excellency,Mungiki must be commended for deciding to target only the matatus,otherwise it would have been different if they decided to paralyse all the trafic. Remember Your Excellency that was what gave the ODM demos such unnecesary mileage,when their youths chose to distrupt all traffic flow across the country. These Mungikis are cowards,people who can never show their faces during the day. In any case Your Excellency,they are now only confined to Wangige and Kikuyu where their tribesmen - sorry Sir,Your tribesmen live..



    Your Excellency,out of the 5 million or less,Kenyans who are said to be facing the crisis,1.5 million are members of the same Mungiki. Surely,they can't be said to be victims of the same crisis they have caused.



    Your Excellency must not allow your mind to be poluted with rumours that many Kenyans are tarmaking to and from their homes and work places. Why can they sleep at the work places? Remember when you were a young man Sir,you too would walk for miles and not ware out. I too have treked from Kencom to Parliament and though I got too tired,I din't die. These complainants are the same fellows who migrated from rural areas where they used to trek for mile just to fetch a jag of water.



    Finally Yoru Excellency,there is also this foolish talk in town that you and your cabinet and MPs should not enjoy massive security when other Kenyans are being killed by Mungiki. One silly mouth even sugested that your 35-man security team be reduced. What a stupid thought? That would be putting our national security on the line. Your Excellency must be properly guarded given the insecurity in this country. Other Kenyans should learn to live with Mungiki,after all they are their brothers and sisters and not yours Sir. Infact Your Excellency,those NGOs suggesting that your escort and that of PM Raila Odinga be reduced are the same characters who have been calling for ressettlement of IDPs. Oh God,how stupid some brains can be. They just don't know that there are more pressing issues in this country than the IDP. The IDPs can wait after all they are not even paying rent in those camps...ati how many are they??



    Your Excellency must have the peace of mind of a Head of State and rest assured that everything is well. I just didn't tell you that contrary to media reports,farmers Kenya Yote,are busy planting to beat deadlines in this rainy season.

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  13. Ciku

    Embarrassment cannot describe Kikuyu reaction, the word is TERRIFIED.

    Thats why some pretend to support Mungiki values (maximum survival or self preservation) and the others too petrified (scared shitless) to speak out against in case someone rats on them and they become "the late skinned headless". Call a spade what it is sister, your article is spot on, but you chose your words so as to not sound challenging to your feeble (and suddenly voiceless) brothers

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  14. wanjiku unlimited,

    thank you for the wonderful piece. it is good that you are not beating around the bush here....continue calling a spade a spade....let others continue to hide under their banner of their ethnicity!! how anyone can keep quiet about this tragedy is beyond me...and to see some kumekuchites coming here to aggravate people that mungiki are just following in odm's footsteps is to say the least-a tragedy and a national shame!!

    shiko, this thing is embarassing not only for kikuyus but for all kenyans as well...i cannot believe in this day and age people sit around skinning other's heads and drinking that blood!! how primitive can u get!! do u know how backward we must look in the eyes of the international community? i dont even want to think about it!

    on a whole separate issue altogether, i also have a further suggestion for you my dear, why dont you start that school we talked about? the social one for re-integrating people back into society. i mean many of your kinsmen will benefit from your enlightened perspective!! please teach them in course 101 to desist from justifying what should not be justified, be it stolen elections, stolen exam results, corruption, whatever!! tell them condoning evil just comes back to bite them in the ass later on....as is so evident now.

    and shiko, i am very proud to be associated with you my sister!! thank u for telling it like it is. si now you see why we are friends?

    -Mrembo.

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  15. The problem here is the security forces:

    Headed by Kikuyus appointing Kikuyus fighting poor Kikuyus.

    So lets say your top CID guy is Kikuyu and one of his relatives is Mugiki.What is he supposed to do?

    NOTE: To solve the problem shuffle the whole security apparatus.

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  16. BREAKING NEWS!!!

    Marianne Briner gave Oral Sex to the following People
    ----Jeff Koinange, Sam Okello, Sam Ongeri and Muigai!.

    I have received this news in my inbox and it is very shocking.

    Marianne, wherever you are, is it true you have oral sex to Jeff & Sam Okello? What is the truth? Did Jeff rape YOU or did YOU rape Jeff by enticing him with oral sex despite being very old? These are the stories making rounds these sides. Tell us truth and expose these crooks.

    M-Pesa
    Nbi Kenya

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  17. My two cents.

    The last three months have seen Kenya go through a painful period. This period was occasioned by a bungled election. The hate, killings and whatever that followed was as a result of this and to a better extent of the injustices that have been visited on Kenya by a few elites. As is by coincidence these elites come from Nyumba ya Mumbi. The election also brought out the worst in Nyumba ya Mumbi, they vowed no other person apart from one from that Nyumba will rule Kenya. Does Kenya belong only to the Mumbi house? That when other regions suffer, you don't show any remorse. "Ni shauri yao?" That thay are lazy?" The sins of the past are like Karma, they always hit back. Unless you ask Kenyans fro forgiveness, you will forever experience the likes of Mungiki.

    Rhyymemaster

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  18. Hi M-Pesa,

    As we try to discuss the problem of Mungiki,you bring this crap up????

    Come on Dude!!!!!!!!!!!

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  19. Well well..... your sentiments are spot on and kenya will need the OSA you laughed at is what you are clearly putting into play.

    Anon 7:15 like someone else said and like i also said we have very brilliant brothers and sisters from the Kyuk community who are still upset with the murky scenes we have been witnessed.Some of us work with them,share booze with them and i shudder at the thought of them one day carrying a panga or what have you and chop some of our heads off or lynch our property and if it so happens God forbid.So in essence this shouldn't be and it isnt an wholesale condemnation of the kyuks at all and if it were so i doubt Wanjiku could be posting here.

    The only problem sets in when you look at kenya as a nation and its making say from 1963.Kenyatta did alot of injustices here and there and if some few individuals wake up and want to correct it overnight thats a dream which is unachievable by burning buses and causing chaos and especially with a group from one community.Secondly he dint do this alone,there are so many culprits,some alive some dead,this song of land tribunals is not a bad song after all coz i feel it seeks to correct one among other numerous injustices.

    What is irking is that like Taabu said,some people are either overtly or covertly glorifying the mayhem.Besides its also true you never know who is in and who is not coz i have personally experienced it when i was complaining about the wanton torching of seemingly new vehicles (matatu Minibuses) which might have been bought on loan and i got a scorn followed by a loud reprimand from someone considerably serious and neat.Even if there is someone wronged i doubt his mother wronged him so i dont understand why he would strip his mother.

    So its a complex issue but the PEDESTRIAN approach some fellows give it here is plain irritating.We dont neccessarily say that other communities are not complaining also but the approach given by one is wanting and we have a possibility of getting similar rants from other communities and i hope it could be a decent rant.

    We stay optimistic.

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  20. My handle has obviously been hijacked by a demented and thuggish juvenile with a pornographic mind. This cowardly nutcase was obviously bullied severely in school or molested or as a kid. I mean, how else can one explain it?

    Yes I may be somehow rude but vulgar? decency ladies and gentlemen has literally gone flying through the window! Maybe if possible IP address should be cross checked and block out the sorry b@stard! I'm also for moderation anytime.

    nimesema!

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  21. MPESA Is there anything between your EARS Honestly? All that you post and expect it to counted as a comment?Why are you willing disgracing this Blog?

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  22. I SWEAR ONLY KIKUYU'S CAN TAKE THEIR THEIVING TABIA UKO ABROAD:)

    Men accused of siphoning gas from vehicles

    By YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Published on: 04/16/08

    With gas prices approaching $4 a gallon, this may become popular — siphoning.
    On Tuesday, Marietta police arrested three men who allegedly used a gas can and a garden hose to siphon gasoline from a Mercury Marquis, a Jeep Liberty, a Ford Explorer and a GMC Sonoma. They also used the tools to suck gas from a Pontiac and Buick, according a police incident report.

    "This is probably a trend you will see in the near future, as gas prices go up," said Officer Mark Bishop, a police spokesman. "They were stealing from several cars in the same complex, probably for their own use or possibly to sell."

    Police arrested Ted K. Mbaya of Dallas, and Kevin M. Gitonga and George Mwangi, both of Marietta. Mbaya and Gitonga, both 20, told police they were students.

    All three ran when officers approached them in the parking lot of the Silvercreek apartments at 1776 Roswell Road. Two of the suspects, Mwangi, 19, and Gitonga were shot with Tasers. Mwangi was hit with Taser prongs twice. The first time only one prong stuck to Mwangi, who kept running. The second time, the two prongs hit their target. Mwangi "was apprehended with no injuries," according to the incident report.

    The men were each charged with felony obstruction and misdemeanor theft by taking.

    LINK >> Men accused of siphoning gas from vehicles

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  23. M-Pesa said...

    just received this in my inbox. Interesting!

    LETTER TO H.E MWAI KIBAK
    I FROM MUNGIKI.

    HA!!HA!!HA! so if this is from mungiki then why are they contradicting themselves left right and center- with what they said on media and this shaite of a statement M-pesa Haa!! ha!!next time get someone who understands the jungle politics t write for you?? this is like rumbling of a child or if grown up a very confused one- contradiction after contradiction:)
    go post it on kumekuchas the kikuyu blog and stop wasting out time!!

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  24. No other community can attempt to use Kikuyu and trust in the same sentence. And now as you correctly point out, even Kikuyus do not trust each other, but somehow want other tribes to trust them with leadership.

    Almost certainly rubbish. Inter-ethnic levels of trust are very low in Kenya for all ethnic groups, and intra-ethnic levels of trust are quite high for all ethnic groups.

    Nonetheless, the little evidence - see p. 9 here - I know of seems to contradict this: Aembu and Ameru have the highest levels of inter-ethnic trust: they're the most willing to trust people of a different ethnic group at 12%. JoLuo have the lowest level (5%) - that low figure is probably explained by the belief - for which there is some evidence - that they have been and are victims of state discrimination on ethnic grounds. The authors note that the comparative levels of inter-ethnic trust for other groups are roughly similar. So I'm guessing that the figure for Gikuyu will fall in between these two extremes.

    To say that Gikuyu are especially untrusting of others on account of ethnic origin is not, apparently, to say something true.

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  25. Blogger M-Pesa said...

    yes we hear you ati when the going gets tough and kikuyu's are in dogs in central with the mungiki terrorist gang and now you ask for moderation on kumekucha?? hey Chris will nt listen to someone like you who was happy abusing other tribes all over the map and clapping at their agony and senseless killings especially lately in Mt. Elgon Region-
    if you do not like what you read here them push off!!

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  26. Aint there a way to block some comments?Sanaa of Finland should be knowing how to do this.IPs no coz most are dynamic.

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  27. Source: http://www.wsbtv. com/news/ 15907417/ detail.html


    Police arrested Ted K. Mbaya of Dallas, and Kevin M. Gitonga and George Mwangi, both of Marietta.

    Police went to the scene around 4:30 a.m. after getting a call of someone trying to steal a vehicle. According to police, all three men ran when officers approached them. Mwangi and Gitonga were shot with stun guns before being subdued.

    All three men were arrested and charged with felony obstruction and misdemeanor theft by taking.

    Gitonga has been released on bond. The other two are in custody at the jail.

    Marietta police spokesman Mark Bishop says apartment complexes are popular places to siphon gas because of the high concentration of vehicles.

    The higher prices come even as drivers cut back on gas consumption.

    "Demand for gasoline is terrible," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. Gas demand has fallen an average of 1 percent each of the last four weeks compared to the same period last year. "Demand should be rising this time of year."

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  28. In order to solve this problem, a genuine effort must be made by those concerned to speak the truth however ugly it is. WU, that is a good starting point ( apat on the back for that). However, Mungiki by whatever name its reps. proffers embodies what I genuinely see as the problem with nyumba ya mumbi lot. What Munguki is practising is fundamentally reflected in ordinary Kikuyu's attitude, character and behaviour. Before you draw out your daggers, I don't hate Kikuyus, I only disagree with many (not all) of their ways, behaviour and attitudes. Indeed one of their daughters is a sister in law and we haven't experienced any problem at all before, during and after the crisis months that followed that "election-from-hell".

    With that out of the way, WU, if I may ask, Kikuyus are about 4.5 million people out of which I would imagine about half are children, another quater are ladies and the rest are men. Now, that chap who spoke on behalf of Mungiki has said they have about 1.3 million active members and I a further (1m?) 'inactive' members who can be activited easily. Doesn't this suggests that nearly every male Kikuyu is a Mungiki? Are you suggesting that these males are ashamed of themselves? Or is it just the ladies and children who are ashamed of their brothers, sons and fathers? Or are these figures just a bravado talk by that Mungiki chap? I find it difficult to reconcile this fact with your assertion/suggestion that many Kikuyus are ashamed of Mungiki when the figures here would suggest differently. Who is right my sister, I need to be enlightened.

    On the character, attitude and behaviour, what the Munguki are doing isn't different from educated leaders and ordinary folks from Kikuyu community; sample the following remarks and associate them with folks from your lot: "Kwani hizo kahawa ni za mama yako...", "Kwani umekula mbuzi ya nani..." . Also, remember Simon Matheri and how his relatives and villagers entertained him despite knowing very well his criminal life until he turned on his relatives/villagers? Anyway, the point is that Kikuyus need to correct their attitude and behaviour by forcefully confronting their own when they are wrong rather than keep quiet and let the rest of us interpret their silence as complicity. They also need to come away from the paranoia that some of them suffer whenever their shortcoming is candidly pointed out. Remember, a good friend will tell you when you make a mistake, it is up to you to correct it. Many Kenayans have tried and still continue to try to point these glaring problems.

    My two cents worth...

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  29. I am in total agreement with 7:27 & Rhymemaster, 7:57 AM. But i'd like to add..
    Wanjiku you & a select few are definatley cut from a different cloth but surely Mungiki is MORE THAN AN EMBARASSEMENT to the Kikuyu people.
    I am young, not yet even 30 yrs. At the peak of the Electoral violence my friends from the kikuyu community, same age bracket as myself, some even younger were quite happy with the mungiki "revenge" killings.

    Not one was ready to condemn it & Believe me this was the general feeling among the community, save for the select few.

    Their argument, "our people were being killed".
    How many times in this blog did you read certain people go on & on about the Eldoret killings with no mention of the Naivasha, Kibera, Kisumu massacres etc...its called selective amnesia!

    I will not be convinced that the Mungiki is not a Kikuyu problem. It is just that, a kikuyu problem. If the very Kikuyus who cheered them on had nipped this problem in the bud, from its onset there would be no Mungiki Mayhem. Instead kikuyu leaders of extreme backward mentality embraced these thugs & their even more ridiculous ideologies, preached to their people to embrace them as they upheld their cutoms, roots & culture. Isnt it true that after this embrace...several families thereafter gladly allowed their sons to join this "cultural bandwagon" now that they had their roots as far back as the Kenyatta era, the one man who lived for kikuyu supremacy?...This very community nurtured this menace it is not a Kenyan problem. They are merely harrasing us kenyans for the sake of their warped cause.
    How many Kenyans are cultuarally aware, poor, Landless with barely anything but the clothes on their backs? How about the people in NEP, Coastal province etc dont they have youths who are jobless & landless as well. Dont we have Kenyans from all walks of life who have the same problems these mungiki claim to have? So NO. poverty, Land, Past Injustices are not the core issue for this Mungiki. They are sipmly THUGS masquerading as culturalists!!!

    I am yet to understand why we Kenyans are being asked to "help" them when its good for them? My question is where are those kikuyus who were cheering them a few months ago? Where are those bloggers who claimed "we will unleash mungiki on you"? Am I to sympathize with those who created this menace? NO, NAH UH, NEVER!!
    I would like the Mungiki issue delt with once & for all, ALL LIFE IS SACRED! But do not expect to ride a tiger, "hang out" with the devil & scream for help when it turns on you & more so when they looked the other side or cheered the killings of innocent people simply because they were "revenging" the killings of "one of their own". I may appear hurtless but 90% of kikuyus were content with their activities until they turned against them & only then did they stop to think
    about this problem, HOW SELFISH!!

    I can also confidently state that should mungiki contort & once more turn on other Kenyans in the name of protecting their own, the cheering will certainly emerge..HOW SELFISH!!!!
    P.S, I am not encouraging or celebrating violence, not at all but WHY ARE THE POLICE USING BABY GLOVES ON THE MUNGIKI WHILE THEY GLADLY SHOT TO KILL INNOCENT CHILDREN, MOTHERS, FATHERS, YOUNG MEN & WOMEN IN CERTAIN AREAS IN THIS COUNTRY??
    WHY THE DOUBLE STANDARD?
    Then again, isn't it obvious why!!!

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  30. @Anon 7:16 AM Wanjiku is no singer and if you cannot stand the trutgh please escape from the kitchen. People fail exams not because they are stupid but chose to set their own question. You have shamelessly displayed your naivity and newness to this blog. Please if you are interested READ and don't make opinions to rush post what jumps off your head. Again Ciku is no singer leave alone blues and the blog is no band either. Please revise your civics elsewhere.

    @M-Pesa you are one dude very smart to himself in detractions. Please leta ingine. Your antics are old and colourless. FYI you acknowledge a problem first before you tackle it. you cannot continue living i self-denial and expect to rope others in helping you our. Ciku has done her part in exposing the problem what is your take? Others reduce it a game of semantics ati TERRIIED and not embarassed, which is a lesser sin among the two?

    @Daniel Waweru true to form you are dreaming and continue to live id denial. Your penchanct to quote makes you look like one mistaking blogs for academic writing clinics. Attend relevant workshops to know when to quote. This is contemporary communication and no journal. The juvenile jibes irritates the ears and eyes.

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  31. Its like cancer, it eats/devours from the inside. Let them deal with it!

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  32. Its like cancer, it eats/devours from the inside. Let them deal with it!

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  33. Rhyymemaster,

    Exactly my point. But it is not only their leaders/elite. It goes beyond that to the ordinary chap on the streets. A friend tried to put a Matatu in Nrb in the 90s' - the intimidation, the corruption,... his little business went under. At the same time, the Kuiks I know who started at the same time now have several matatus, a ka-home. The reason is that he wasn't milked as much bacause... If these ordinary folks changed their attitude, I believe their leaders will be forced/parsuaded to. Strangely, that is more hope than belief, sadly. But I can still live in hope, ama?

    Contrast their church leaders attitudes to that of Muge during Moi's reign. There are examples they can learn from.

    My two cents worths...

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  34. Hooray Shiko…point blank and on the spot. I cant say much after all you have not left out anything for us to say. If only we had few people like you in the midst of our kikuyu brothers and sisters we could have witness anti kibaki demonstrations in central province immediately after the election was rigged. Those demonstrations could not only have forced kibaki to resign but could also have sent goodwill massage to the other Kenyan communities as a whole. I stand to ask if that happen, I mean the demonstration, could there have been blood shed. Could there have been IDPs sorry I meant IDKs (INTERNALLY DIPLACED KENYANS). I wish all our communities learn to call a spade a spade not a big spoon with a wooden handle. They should learn to own up to their bad deeds if they anticipate to live harmoniously with other communities. So I challenge our Kikuyu brothers and sisters to give full support to our sister Wanjiku and disown mistakes done by their tribe’s black sheep , afterall most Kenyans know very well that the black sheep in your society is just like any other society , very few but the damage the are causing the community is great indeed . In a nutshell I mean to say you guys STAND UP be counted as the future leaders of this community and the country as a whole. By doing that I am sure we shall have taken a step closer to a united wanainchi, united Kenya . I am sure, then, we can bell the cat together very easily. Ama ..do you have a better alternate to a united Kenya?

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  35. Ciku, you are a dime in a dozen! Well said!

    bp one I second what you have written, especially when you state that had Central demonstrated at the onset of the stolen election would there have been bloodshed, IDP's?

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  36. anon@ 9:50. thanks for the support pal. The word i s IDK and not IDP..I repeat IDK( INTERNALLY DIPLACED KENYANS....NOT PERSONS) please rectify. thanks again

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  37. Kikuyu`s are turncoats and that`s a fact. If they wanted Mungiki to stop their murderous activities in Kenya, they could do so in a flush, just the same way Ruto and others stopped their thugs from displacing more minorities from their strongholds.

    I wonder why Githingo run away to the Britons after fearing for his life and Orengo has been on danger for time in memorial and has never run awy even to the neighbouring countries? Somethingthing must be wrong and it should be address now before 2012.

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  38. Am I the only one who happens to think Mungiki and the menace they are causing is psychological? Has it dawned on anyone else that perhaps Mungiki is simply reminding us that they are still very much around and that regardless of a grand coalition with ODM, Mungiki is here to stay and will protect "their people" ie GEMA?

    Perhaps I should stop thinking out loud ...

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  39. Wanjiku - great article. I also agree with most commentators who've raised the point about the reaction of the Kikuyu community to the "revenge" missions all over the country.

    When other Kenyans were demonstrating over a bungled election, there was a lot of talk about how primitive, lazy, jealous, deserving of death they were for demonstrating, burning property, while throwing "victory parties", etc. Now Mungiki does worse and they are "simply fighting for their rights, have reasonable grievances", we must be empathetic and humane in how we deal with them???? I don't see any of those "law must be followed pundits" flapping jaws with the same vigor on this one. The Government's response is rather telling as is the silence of all Central MPs. Where is the same use of force seen during attempts by citizens to march to Uhuru Park? Mt. Elgon? These are some of the reasons why there is such antipathy.

    Waweru - no matter how much you try to intellectualize bullshit, it still remains bullshit and will never evolve into Aristotilian or philosophy or similar. As Taabu said, adding a citation or two doesn't help the bs pass muster either.

    "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is people of good conscience to remain silent" -Thomas Jefferson. I think he inadvertently spoke to these people when he said this!

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  40. I meant to say Aristotilian philosophy or similar....

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  41. Citation can be useful especially if that article is peer reviewed. If the source is not authoritative then it is not different from any other blogger's contribution. So, which is it - peer reviewed or not?

    My two cents worth...

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  42. Anon 9.02 i tried to do the math earlier today and it just didn't add up. The youth have certainly joined Mungiki in large numbers but the math just wont add up. 1.3 million members and another 1 million waiting to join? I think this was just bravado. If you follow their math that would leave just women and children as non members. And you cant be too sure about the women.

    Anon 7.14 you're right about Sierra Leone. Word is that there's almost no crime there despite all their troubles. Our mungiki brothers are plain lazy and want to make a quick buck. Some time back i watched a guy who rears rabbits in the outskirts of Nairobi and makes his living out of selling them. He does not have any land to speak of. He's just creative.

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  43. There is learned friend of ours who commented i quote "Mungiki are listed in the encyclopedia of anthropology as direct descendants of Muturapithicus, a tobacco chewing, tree-dwelling species that roamed the forests of Mt. Kenya more than 20,000 years ago. The species is characterized by a sloping forehead, an overhanging brow, discoloured teeth, laboured intelligence and deep-seated hatred for anything female."

    Honestly, i can`t stop laughing and my ribs are have been aching, but i was readin the encyclopedia of anthropology this morning and never so any information about this. This ano who wrote that hopefully is not a PANUA "Is he pulling our legs my fellow bloggers? I wonder"

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  44. Anon 9.02,


    With that out of the way, WU, if I may ask, Kikuyus are about 4.5 million people out of which I would imagine about half are children, another quater are ladies and the rest are men. Now, that chap who spoke on behalf of Mungiki has said they have about 1.3 million active members and I a further (1m?) 'inactive' members who can be activited easily. Doesn't this suggests that nearly every male Kikuyu is a Mungiki? Are you suggesting that these males are ashamed of themselves? Or is it just the ladies and children who are ashamed of their brothers, sons and fathers? Or are these figures just a bravado talk by that Mungiki chap? I find it difficult to reconcile this fact with your assertion/suggestion that many Kikuyus are ashamed of Mungiki when the figures here would suggest differently. Who is right my sister, I need to be enlightened.


    Population of Kenya was just over 37 million in 2007 (according to the CBK (see page 13 of this), population in 2006 was 36,138,746; averaging the previous three years’ rate of growth, we have an annual rate of 2.81% for a total population of 37, 154 245 in 2007). Gikuyu are between 22 and 24.2% of that, so there are between 8.1 and 8.9 million of them. Mungiki has female members. Peter Kagwanja has argued that 75% of its members had left by late 2004 (see page 71 of this). It is not unwise to be skeptical of the membership figures given by the group’s spokesmen. The argument that nearly every male Gikuyu is a member of Mungiki is silly.

    Interestingly, there’s a long line of similar arguments: Professor BA Ogot once argued that the post-Mboya oath had been taken by all Gikuyu men, and since no cleansing oath had been administered, it was still in force, years after the fact. He conveniently ignored the mass protests by Gikuyu Christians, and the murders of some of those who would not comply with the oath-taking. Further back, there’s the colonial claim that Gikuyu were especially secretive and prone to form secret councils. The form of bigotry you’re promoting is neither new nor interesting.

    Anon 1153,

    The piece in my 8.31 is peer reviewed.

    Taabu,

    I presented a relevant argument backed by evidence; perhaps you'll extend me a similar courtesy. Else people might think Kumekucha really is a Kenyan Kangura: the names, after all, mean pretty much the same thing.

    Chicity,

    You had two tries to get the spelling of 'Aristotelian' right; you still fluffed it. Wow.

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  45. 12:25 pm Daniel Waweru...
    You PANUAS are the slowest species to walk this earth & Isn't it amazing how panuas always resort to statistics, figures & what nots whenever faced with the need to be accountable??
    Like your partys' "6% economic growth" mister NOBODY BUYS THAT CRAP!!!!

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  46. daniel waweru,

    I may have got the population figure wrong, but then again which number do you believe these days from the government? The last census was a failure - the then governments own admission. Since then there are only estimates, numbers which can be manipulated for reasons I don't want to speculate in this thread. I would like to know how the government counts people who die and babies who are borne in the villages - any idea DW? The BBC quotes 34 million and Kikuyu 22% which puts the number at 7.48 million; the government’s is 37,154,245 @ 22% which is about 8.2 million.

    Again, I got my figures about Mungiki membership wrong here (http://bichage.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/ndura-waruinge-and-maina-njenga-are-still-mungiki/) is a more accurate number: 2.8 million. This number needs to be adjusted upwards if the supposed significant recruitment immediately after the "election-from-hell" is to be believed.

    Now, back to the thrust of my argument: Assume about half of the population are children that takes 4 million out (8.2 – 4 million) are adult males and females. If a quarter of that is female, then we are left with 2.1 adult males. Now where does this leave my silly argument (it was a question if you read it again) that: “The argument that nearly every male Gikuyu is a member of Mungiki is silly.” (2.8 million members vs. approx. 2.1 adult males). I think my question is reasonable in this context, isn’t it? I am sorry I don’t see the correlation – appropriate characterization and reference is welcome.

    On peer review, I hope we both mean the same thing – not some dodgy conference. Tell me which international conference or journal where the publication appeared. Otherwise my opinion about the references remains.

    My two cents worth…

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  47. Waweru - so I mis-spelled Aristotelian...bite me! Meanwhile you can carry on with your empty, masturbatory intellectual contortions. We're still not buying it! Just for kicks I will get it wrong again. Here: ARISTOTILIAN! ARISTOTILIAN! Oh, bite me again!

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  48. anonymous 1.31

    On peer review, I hope we both mean the same thing – not some dodgy conference. Tell me which international conference or journal where the publication appeared. Otherwise my opinion about the references remains.

    The paper appeared on Afrobarometer, a non-partisan academic project for African social-science research run by Michigan State University.

    I may have got the population figure wrong, but then again which number do you believe these days from the government? The last census was a failure - the then governments own admission. Since then there are only estimates, numbers which can be manipulated for reasons I don't want to speculate in this thread. I would like to know how the government counts people who die and babies who are borne in the villages - any idea DW? The BBC quotes 34 million and Kikuyu 22% which puts the number at 7.48 million; the government’s is 37,154,245 @ 22% which is about 8.2 million.

    There have been independent demographic and health surveys in Kenya since the last census. See here for a very thorough one from 2003, for example. The CBK recently carried out a donor-funded nation-wide household survey of its own. (It is interesting to note that ODMers are happy to rely on government figures when it is politically convenient: when SID’s inequality data was published, ODMers didn’t argue that it was unreliable because compiled from government numbers). These allow quite precise population estimates; that the last census was unreliable is no reason to conclude that there are no reliable estimates of Kenya’s population.

    Now, back to the thrust of my argument: Assume about half of the population are children that takes 4 million out (8.2 – 4 million) are adult males and females. If a quarter of that is female, then we are left with 2.1 adult males. Now where does this leave my silly argument (it was a question if you read it again) that: “The argument that nearly every male Gikuyu is a member of Mungiki is silly.” (2.8 million members vs. approx. 2.1 adult males). I think my question is reasonable in this context, isn’t it? I am sorry I don’t see the correlation – appropriate characterization and reference is welcome.

    Your calculation makes two crucial assumptions: that there are no female Mungiki members, and that the membership figure given by Ndura Waruinge is reliable.

    Those assumptions are unsound, and obviously so. One good independent account of Mungiki found that it had, at the very most, 2 million dues-paying members in 2003, 400, 000 of whom were women. (Kagwanja 2003: 10). Kagwanja 2005 (see pages 20-3) argues that by 2005, Mungiki had lost 75% of its members to conversions to Christianity and Islam, and because of the extreme violence of the government crackdown (e.g. Murungaru's shoot-to-kill order, and Michuki's clampdown on matatus, which deprived them of their main source of income). Ndura Waruinge has an obvious motive for inflating membership figures, and he has previously done so for political reasons. (Kagwanja 2003: 10, footnote 43).

    Your argument is silly because it relies on an obviously silly premiss. Waruinge has an obvious reason to lie, and therefore we have an obvious reason to discount his claim. You did not.

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  49. On references, I remain unconvinced.

    On the original question. Using your figure or that of the BBC leads to the same coclusion - Are nearly all Kikuyu males members of Mungiki?

    On the numbers, I would rather beleive the Mungiki fella because he is an insider and his figures are more recent than the ones you quote.

    On assumption, it appears you have assumed that I assumed. The problem is that you haven't read the interview carefully to realise those are words from the horse's mouth as it were, not mine.

    My two cents worth...

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  50. Bwana Waweru, it is 'aristotlelian'. The 'l' seems to be a affected by mother tongue interference. Besides which, the point is Kikuyu communal (ir)responsibility for Mungiki or not. Sio mambo ya ukumbavu correcting spelling and grammar while Kenya burns.

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  51. I think mugiki is an embarassment to all Kenyans. It sends a bad image of Kenya and Kenya Safaris and beach holidays that we are know for will suffer.

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