The criminal activities that are attributed to the proscribed Mungiki gang have taken a most bizarre and frightening turn. The spate of abductions and beheadings in Murang’a and Kiambu areas indicates the extent to which the criminals are prepared to go to spread fear and terror. It is clear that we have gone way beyond the battle for control of matatu routes and the violence associated with extortion and protection schemes in areas where Mungiki operates. The proscribed movement is out to demonstrate that it in can operate and strike with impunity anywhere and wherever. It is out to show that the police and other government organs are feeble, helpless and unable to protect anyone who defies it. Mungiki has sent a very powerful and frightening message. It is demonstrating that it is untouchable, that the police crackdown amount to nothing and that the arrest of a few leaders and adherents will not stop it going about its criminal activities. It is inconceivable that the Government, with all the forces under its command, can be reduced to such impotence in the face of Mungiki. One suspects that if there was real will, the force the Government is capable of unleashing would end the menace once and for all.
But perhaps the will is not quite there. We have publicly heard Cabinet ministers call for negotiations with the sect leaders rather than a crackdown. From MPs in the affected areas, we have heard very little on the issue of Mungiki activities in their constituencies. We have heard that police officers out in the field have been advised by their superiors to exercise restraint when they confront members of the gang. It is time this whole phenomenon was properly investigated so that it can be neutralised. Our police have been very busy reacting to criminal actions associated with Mungiki, but there seems to be a dearth of proper investigation. It will take concerted work by both the criminal intelligence arm of the police and the National Security to end this menace.
Brazen murders
However, nothing much will be achieved unless there is the will to uncover those political leaders, in both the present and former regimes, who may have associated with the movement. There is evidence in the public domain, after all, that some leaders in this Government, and the previous one consorted with, and provided support for, Mungiki leaders. The movement has also been adept at lending its support to various political causes, as seen in the run-up to the last election when it came out in support of Kanu, and subsequently when it openly changed allegiance to the present Government. During all those periods, it must be assumed that the Mungiki leaders had been in active touch with the political leaders whom they offered support.
The police cannot claim to be seriously investigating Mungiki if they are not calling in for questioning such political leaders. For it is probably in those associations that the gang gets the confidence to operate in such brazen fashion. Ultimately, the Government must take full responsibility for failing to contain what is now clearly a national security issue. It must crush the movement and restore security in the affected areas.
Glaring failures
It is also up to the Government to move in swiftly and decisively in all other areas in the country threatened by banditry, cattle -rustling and ethnic warfare. If the Government is unable or unwilling to deal with Mungiki in central Kenya, the so-called Sabaot Land and Freedom Army in Mt Elgon, and assorted but very deadly acts of banditry and ethnic flare-ups in Tana River, Trans Nzioa, Pokot, Turkana, Samburu, Moyale and Marsabit districts and much of North Eastern Province, then it will have failed in its primary responsibility of guaranteeing security to all. In which case those responsible for such glaring failures at the highest levels -- the political rather than merely operational levels -- must step aside and hand over the responsibility to others.
Examples from elsewhere in the continent should have served as a lesson to those responsible for nurturing and pampering this deadly sect. In Rwanda, the Interahamwe rose with the specific aim of carrying out genocide for political reasons. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. In the Sudan, the Janjaweed was supported and armed by Khartoum. Now they have become a force on their own, and the continuing genocide in Darfur is the result. Who is to say that the same thing cannot happen in Kenya unless this menace is contained? - Daily Nation Editorial.
