Mungiki???

[me]

I have seen news articles on this group and am kinda curious. What do you know about them?

 

BBC Profile of the Mungiki sect

 

They pray as they face Mount Kenya, which they believe to be the home of their God, known as Ngai.

 

And their name means "a united people".

 

If we are going to hunt them down, the problem is going to be worse

 

Sociologist Ken Ouko

But Kenya's Mungiki followers are no ordinary believers.

 

Their holy communion is tobacco-sniffing, their hairstyle that of the Mau Mau dreadlocks and the origin of the sect is still shrouded in mystery.

 

Since the late 1990s, the sect has left behind a trail of blood in its rejection of the trappings of Western culture.

 

Deaths

 

Last week, the sect was back in the news following two days of clashes with police which left at least two policemen dead in Nairobi and 70 of its members in police custody.

 

Mungiki supporter

Many deaths are blamed on the Mungiki

The clashes were sparked by a dispute over the control of the private minibuses business in some parts of Nairobi, two weeks after 30 people were killed in similar clashes in the Rift Valley province.

 

Police say more than 50 people died last year in clashes involving the sect and owners of private minibuses, known as Matatu, in Nairobi alone.

 

"Mungiki is a politically motivated wing of a religious organisation," says Ken Ouko, a lecturer of sociology at the University of Nairobi.

 

"The religious bit is just a camouflage. It's more like an army unit. During the old system, they seemed to be complimentary to the system. In the new government, they seem to be antagonistic."

 

Secrecy

 

Inspired by the bloody Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s against the British colonial rule, thousands of young Kenyans - mostly drawn from Kenya's largest tribe, the Kikuyu - flocked to the sect whose doctrines are based on traditional practices.

 

Former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi

The Mungiki sprang up under former President Moi

One theory has it that Mungiki was formed in 1988 with the aim of toppling the government of former President Daniel arap Moi. The sect was, at one time, associated with Mwakenya, an underground movement formed in 1979 to challenge the former Kanu regime.

 

Other reports say Mungiki was founded in 1987 by some young students in central Kenya to reclaim political power and wealth which its members claim was stolen from the Kikuyu.

 

Its leadership claims to have two million members around the country and to have infiltrated government offices, factories, schools and the armed forces - members who would not necessarily sport dreadlocks but support and finance the sect behind the scenes.

 

What is known is that the sect operate in secrecy, taking unusual oaths and saying strange prayers in forests and rivers in central Kenya.

 

Kikuyu oral literature portray gory images of their ritual scenes: Grown-up men with loincloths wrapped around them, standing bare foot in rivers, engaging in snuff sessions and bathing in blood mixed with urine and goat tripe.

 

One of its leaders, Maian Njenga, claims he had a vision from God (Ngai) commanding him to unite the Kikuyu and fight foreign ideologies. He is now in hiding, together with his co-leader Ndura Waruinge.

 

Actions

 

After last month's Mungiki attack in Nakuru, Interior Security Minister Chris Murungaru ordered a police crackdown on the sect. He accused the former ruling party Kanu of having nurtured and protected the sect during its reign.

 

But Kanu, now in the opposition, deny the allegations, saying leaders of the sect claim that some senior officials of the new government are members of the sect.

 

Away from the running battle with the police, the Mungiki members have also been involved in other anti-social acts:

 

* Stripping women wearing miniskirts and trousers in public

* Forcibly imposing female circumcision

* Raiding police stations to free their own members who were under police custody.

 

And the sect has been assuming a new modern face, using AK-47 assault rifles instead of clubs, machete and swords.

 

Sociologist Ken Ouko says the Mungiki sect seem to have managed to address a social and spiritual hunger among the young slum dwellers which the church and the state have failed to feed:

 

"I would say this is a social reaction to either poverty or just being disgruntled.

 

"The best approach is talk to Mungiki. If we are going to hunt them down, the problem is going to be worse.

 

"We have to take a diplomatic approach."

[me]

What makes Mungiki tick?

 

 

by Murthui Mwai ("Daily Nation," October 23, 2000)

 

Singing traditional songs and occasionally snuffing tobacco, the group of

about 400 marches on "match boxes and petrol in hand. Ahead lies the

Freemasons building on Nyerere Road, Nairobi. "We will burn it down", they

chant. "It promotes devil worship."

 

A few weeks earlier, the object of their fury was the Muranga Police

Station... and before that the Nyahururu Station, where scores of sect

members were locked up for unlicensed assembly and, allegedly, conducting

illegal oaths.

 

When the sect is not making headlines for advocating female circumcision, it

is professing a mass conversion to Islam. No wonder Cabinet Minister Joseph

Kamotho recently urged the churches to help counter it.

 

Said Kamotho: "Time has come for the Church to condemn the practices of this

sect which is promoting outdated cultural beliefs."

 

Meet the Mungiki sect. It is purportedly a revolutionary group which "will

realise its goal in two years".

 

The recent merger of its members with Muslims, says national co-ordinator

Ibrahim Ndura Waruingi, "will hasten the realisation of this goal."

 

"Islam means submission to God, while Mungiki means the masses. In two years,

we will have converted Kenya or at least three quarters of it to Mungiki," he

says.

 

He adds that Mungiki has about four million members in the country and

hundreds of co-ordinating units from the national to the locational level.

 

"Our aim is to spearhead African socialism. We have a duty to mobilise and

bring economical, political and social changes in society so that the masses

can control their destiny."

 

Other goals are to fight against bad governance and social ills facing the

society and to establish a just nation.

 

Regarding the Freemasons building, Mr Waruingi earlier said: "It is only a

matter of time. The halls must go... they must be destroyed." This was a

declaration that infuriated security officials at a time Internal Security

Minister Marsden Madoka had told Parliament the Government would tame the

sect.

 

Question: Why doesn't Mungiki seek registration?

 

Answer: "We will never do that. We do not need to be registered by (this)

Government which only abets poverty, insecurity, killings and social

instability."

 

Mr Waruingi was reacting to Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Cyrus Maina's Moi

Day challenge that the sect seeks registration "if it is transparent and has

nothing to hide."

 

There are similarities between the pre-colonial Mau Mau Movement and Mungiki,

Mr Wairungi says.

 

"We (Mungiki) have Mau Mau blood in us and our objectives are similar. The

Mau Mau fought for land, freedom and religion... and so do we."

 

However, he says, the Mau Mau did not achieve their goals. "Kenya today is

controlled by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Americans,

the British and the Freemasons. It can't initiate its own development and has

sold all its properties to Westerners in the name of liberalisation."

 

He describes pluralism as an American ideology which does not guarantee

African development. "It has only promoted tribalism, nepotism and

individualism, rather than socialism."

 

Mr Waruingi blames the present system for allegedly helping the spread of

Aids and devil worship in Kenya. He denies that his movement perpetrates

insecurity and administers illegal oaths.

 

Advocates of the materialist theory claim that revolutions are not created in

people's minds but out of adverse socio-economic conditions. And on this

basis, they argue, the Mau Mau liberation war was started in the early

Fifties by the Kenyan peasantry after it became disillusioned with the

colonial oppressors and the African elite, who were compromised by the

colonists.

 

Fifty years later, Kenya's history seems set to repeat itself. Mungiki "a

shadowy movement" has been organising itself quietly and systematically as

the Government downplays its threat.

 

Like the materialists, Mr Waruingi argues that the Mungiki was actually the

creation of the present social and economic crises in the country.

 

He says the Mau Mau took up arms only after the colonial government harassed

them and forced them into the bush.

 

"Nobody actually intends to fight but one does so after being provoked. The

more you persecute and oppress a people, the more you will turn them into

militants. The Government has contributed to the birth of Mungiki through its

high-handedness," he says.

 

Mr Waruingi said that after Mungiki was accused of forcibly circumcising

women and administering oaths, it invited the Government to its functions "to

prove that we have no intention of causing chaos."

 

But, he says, by declaring war on the Freemasons, some top religious figures

and Government officials started issuing threats to the movement.

 

"Why did an individual push the Kirima report on devil worship under the

table instead of making it public?" asks Waruingi.

 

"It is clear to us that the probe was ordered only to find out how many devil

worshippers' secrets had become laeked."

 

Waruingi accuses Mr Madoka of criminalising Mungiki and says that no woman

has gone to court to accuse the sect of forcibly circumcising her.

 

Question: Who are the real leaders of the sect?

 

Answer: "The movement was started by God. He is our chairman and decision

maker..."

 

Lately, Mungiki has demonstrated a fearlessness and militancy that alarm

other citizens and leaders.

 

Its raid on a police station in Murang'a recently was an ominous sign, as was

its fight with the police in Nyahururu a few months ago. Then, too, was the

beating of police officers in Kirinyaga and the numerous clashes with law

enforcers in Nairobi. If Mungiki members can snatch a gun from a police

officer in Murang'a, what can stop them from firing it to defend themselves?

 

Meanwhile, the Mungiki group has been credited with two positive things,

bringing order to matatu operations in Kasarani area, Nairobi, and being at

the forefront of the campaign for a people-driven constitution reform. At the

Kasarani area, no thefts have been reported since the sect members started

their operations. The group has flushed out several thugs and juveniles.

 

'Islam means submission to God, while Mungiki means the masses. In two years,

Kenyans will submit to our ideals...'

[Allamagan]

^^ Mati, for me they seem one exploited & confussed thick-heads. They are simply a political tool used by the big boys of the Kukuya.

[Jacaylbaro]

Soomaalidii baa loo taag l'a yahay adiguna Mungiki iyo wax kalaad la imanaysaa

[Fabregas]

I thought u was talking about Mingiis la tumo. Lakin Masai iyo Balayo baad keentay. lol. I read somewhere that if the British didn't stop the Somali migrations into Kenya, we would be living deep in to their land.

[Sharmarkee]

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro:

Soomaalidii baa loo taag l'a yahay adiguna Mungiki iyo wax kalaad la imanaysaa

The Kid is confused JBaro!,he dont know his behnind from the ground

[me]

ala sharmaarkana badacase ayuu ku dayanayaa. Ladies and gentlemen lets do the closing ranks dance. Dj hit it!

[Sharmarkee]

Me, dont you know inaan abti u ahay badacase, like abti like son, it's a reverse situation now - like son like abti

[me]

War ma waxaad leedahay abtina waad u tahay, wiilkaagana weeye. Meesha ay sheekadu ka khaldantahay hadaan gartay. Horta Jerry Springer show wali ma idiin soo galaa?

[XOG-ogaal]

geeljire12

 

I thought u was talking about Mingiis la tumo. Lakin Masai iyo Balayo baad keentay. lol. I read somewhere that if the British didn't stop the Somali migrations into Kenya, we would be living deep in to their land.

 

don't worry we will be living there intime and also harar

 

when the two regime collapses

[me]

Originally posted by Allamagan:

^^ Mati, for me they seem one exploited & confussed thick-heads. They are simply a political tool used by the big boys of the Kukuya.

They seem confused now, but soon they will be a power to be reckon with. I believe they will take two forms.

 

1. A political group that is capable of major political violence.

 

2. Mafia style organiozation.

 

and both outcomes are not good for the Somali people today....oooh if we only had a strong functioning government. Mungiki could be an opportunity.

[Allamagan]

....oooh if we only had a strong functioning government. Mungiki could be an opportunity.

Oh yeah, we could just use them, innit! fiicnaan lahaydaa balse aawayhe.

 

Based on what I read about this mungikiz (above posts) I believe they can be easily dealt with if one wants to quell the sect, all you need is to hunt down the big fishes.

[me]

BBC Africa

 

Deadly shoot-out with Kenyan sect

 

 

 

Kenya's secretive sect

Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have shot and killed 21 people in a gun battle with suspected members of the banned Mungiki sect.

Police say their officers engaged "a gang of thugs" resisting an operation to recover firearms stolen from three policemen who were killed on Monday.

 

Several weapons are said to have been recovered and some policemen injured.

 

Last week, the president warned Mungiki activities would no longer be tolerated and ordered a shoot-to-kill policy.

 

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the morning shoot-out took place in the Mathare district of Nairobi - a run down industrial sector.

 

He said police have cordoned off a large area of the slum reputed to host criminal gangs in the city.

 

"Security officers during the operation met with resistance from a crowd of armed people who fired at the officers leading to the shoot-out and most of them were killed," Mr Kiraithe told the BBC News website.

 

Three pistols, machetes and other crude weapons were recovered from the slain suspects and from several houses that were ransacked by the police's feared paramilitary wing, he said.

 

On Monday night, three police officers were killed while on patrol on foot in the Mathare slums. They were robbed of their AK-47 rifles.

 

The security forces in Kenya have spent the past three months trying to crack down on criminal elements in the Mungiki - a sect which it is claimed runs an extensive extortion operation and is reported to have connections high up in Kenya politics.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6722113.stm

[Chimera]

Originally posted by Geel_Jire12:

I thought u was talking about Mingiis la tumo. Lakin Masai iyo Balayo baad keentay. lol. I read somewhere that if the British didn't stop the Somali migrations into Kenya, we would be living deep in to their land.

We would? Somalian armies have been roaming throughout Kenya and Tanzania since the early 17th century case in point the Portuguese defeat by a joint Somalian-Omanese force in 1660 Mombasa, or the Nabahan arab princes of Pate that were threatening the Siu women and children who were rescued by a Katwa Somalian army that send the Nabahan agressors back to Pate and later on also defeated the invading Seyyid Siad of Zanzibar and send him back to Tanzania. A Somali sheikh after those victories was even given joint rulership of Siu with the Famao princes. The british themselves were fighting Somali warriors as far as Malindi(see J.C. Hutcheson)so it's not that they stopped us no these pricks in reality send us back to NFD.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Originally posted by Dhulqarnayn -alSumaale:

We would? Somalian armies have been roaming throughout Kenya and Tanzania since the early 17th century case in point the Portuguese defeat by a joint Somalian-Omanese force in 1660 Mombasa, or the Nabahan arab princes of Pate that were threatening the Siu women and children who were rescued by a Katwa Somalian army ...

Daa'uud, maxaa waaye waxaan? "Somalian???????"

 

Kamoon nooh. It is annoying seeing this Soomaali noun butchered by non-Soomaali, and it is even more annoying when it is written or said by Soomaalis, and extra more unbelievable coming from you of all people here.

 

Perhaps those foreign forums you visit ayaad lasoo qabsaday.