The whole country is caught in Mungiki frenzy. All news channels are full of reports on the war between the sect and government agencies. But who are Mungiki and how do they impact the national psyche?
Mungiki is more than a security issue. Mungiki touches on every facet of our national life and goes to the very fabric that holds us together or threatens to tear the nation apart. There are lessons to be adduced from this phenomenon.
The recent upsurge in macabre activities of the proscribed Mungiki sect have got many Kenyans scared and disturbed that such could be happening in a country with security forces famed for their efficacy
Non-Kikuyus have reason to be wary of the kikuyu nationalism that the proscribed sect seems to subscribe to. They seem to put high premium on “returning” to their old ways by means of reviving abhorrent traditions that include FGM, tobacco sniffing, oath taking and the general tribal chauvinism and imagined superiority that comes with the nurturing of such mindset. Ideally all communities should be in touch and proud of their roots, but should exercising that right be seen to interfere and intimidate other communities, then that should be a warning sign.
The factors that contributed to the rise of the sect have been discussed in the public domain at length and variously include unfair distribution of resources like land, the dispossession of the Mau Mau offsprings, the need to counter or contain the tribal clashes of early 90s in the rift valley, the need to rekindle communal sense of belonging or the need to revive Kikuyu traditions encroached on by modern religions and popular culture. Every community will at different times feel under siege from influences beyond their control. Whether a community consciously accepts or resists the external influences is not a destiny that a few men can determine without consulting or involving the masses. There is great danger when a few in society arrogate themselves the role of determining the direction a whole community takes.
When the adherents of Mungiki took control of communal security in some Nairobi slums, I am sure they were well received by the local chiefs and police. After all they were assisting the police and provincial administration to achieve their mandates. Therein lies the danger of government agencies ceding or absconding from their roles. Today Dandora is fabled to be a secure neighbourhood due to the “partnership” between government and Mungiki vigilantes. It is worth noting that Government operates within legal confines that bind everybody. Vigilantes on the other hand operate under a fluid set of rules that are created, practiced and abandoned as the situation requires. It is no surprise therefore that when government agencies cede their functions to vigilantes, it was a matter of time before the innocent provision of communal security grows to extortion for non-adherents and protection of the willing. It follows that yesterday’s Robin Hood could graduate to tomorrow’s Al Capone; dabbling in all manner of illegal activities. Is it by accident that community policing as a concept has largely been misunderstood giving rise to pseudo-criminal gangs working as vigilantes while the local security machinery turn the other side and feign ignorance of such an arrangement.
Having attained independence at the peak of the cold war, Kenya was never given a chance to establish a homegrown wealth distribution system, we were pre-destined to follow in our colonial master’s footsteps and adopt the winner-takes-all capitalist philosophy as a way of life. We quickly re-defined the fundamentals of capitalism by injecting a little homegrown dose of the grabbing syndrome and a-man-eateth-from-the-tree-he-watcheth philosophy that saw the rise of an acceptable brand of corruption that cut across all public and private institutions. How sustainable his practice would be, was tested by dwindling public resources and a widening rift between the haves and have nots. The resounding loss that KANU suffered in 2002 was a clear testimony that the masses were fed up with this way of life. As to whether the NARC regime read and understood the mood of the people is debatable. Is Mungiki a reaction to this shameful state of affairs? Is a nation of 30,000 millionaires and 30 million paupers viable? Should we be dismayed that the masses are trying to emulate the moneyed.
Violence in politics is a widely accepted occurrence in Kenya. Many a politician are not averse to owning and controlling their own gang of goons for use when need arises. If there is any number of politicians from Central Kenya that are today associated with Mungiki, such a relationship would invariably be seen in that light. The media has gleefully reported, complete with video clips, the two demonstrations that that Mungiki took to Uhuru Park and Harambee Avenue as a show of support for two different political parties over a period of three years; clearly showing that political thugs owe their allegiance to no one in particular, but to the pied piper. There are numerous politicians today regretting their flirtation with the sect. As a nation, we however need to look at the bigger picture and say so to political violence by enacting specific laws that outlaw such practices and therefore the need for gangs-for-hire. The government has absconded from provision of security in political rallies unless they are government-friendly rallies. This vacuum has been filled by Mungiki–type outfits all over the country.
Back to the economics and politics of wealth distribution, Mungiki has metamorphosed into a hydra-headed monster that easily reads economic trends with a view to exploiting them. This is how they got involved in reaping from the boom that Michuki rules instigated in the matatu sector. Although the government wont take advice from pedestrian commentators, it is obvious that the only to keep the sect and other groups with similar motivations out of transport businesses is to formalize the sector into organizations like the NENO, Akamba, Kenya Bus, Citi Hoppa, etc. Get cash out of the trade and you will have controlled them.
The recent released economic survey credited some of the growth to consumerism as expounded by an upsurge in super markets and mega-marts all over the place. TheMungiki must have seen this trend long before the treasury mandarins saw it coming. How do you explain the entry of theMungiki into the hawking business in the CBD? It was widely reported that all the lucrative streets were partitioned and would be availed to genuine hawkers at a fee. That fee guaranteed unfettered access to the customers free of interference from Council Askaris and with protection by the street “owners”. Is it a wonder that confrontations between this “street lords” and the authorities ended with death and destruction.
In other booming sectors of the economy like construction and the natural offshoot of property management, it is romoured that today you cannot freely undertake construction on your plot without a little supervision and management from the local toughies. They offer you their own fundis (who will pay some agency fee for getting the job) while your materials suppliers/transporters are also “levied” for venturing into the Mungiki “territory”. As soon as the goons have facilitated the project, they offer their property management services by collecting your rent for a commission or in exchange for free room in one of your units. The most ridiculous manifestation of the sect is the now common cases of fees levied to town-based farmers with parcels of land upcountry by local goons for “watching” their farms in their absence.
You are wrong if you imagine that the Mungiki menace just happened on the country. This is a phenomena that was nurtured with the inadvertent assistance of the state machinery. Until the recent upsurge in cult-like killings, the authorities never took a keen interest in the metamorphosis of the sect. After all they did not seem a threat to anyone and in fact seemed to complement the state in the provision of some services and ensuring peace. It took the courage of a few matatu operators in Kiambu and Maragwa who defied the excessive demand for illegal fees, to ignite the current spate of tit-for-tat killings initially between the sect and defiant transport operators and now between the sect and the police force, provincial administrators and deserters.
When the internal security minister announced some measures to curb the sect, it was curious that one of the measures was that policemen dabbling in the matatu trade would have to choose one of the two callings. At the face value of that requirement, it is hard to see the relationship, but one is forced to conclude complicity on the part of the law enforcers in the collection and sharing of the illegal levies squeezed out of transport operators. Is it possible for a handful of people to collect monies from a fleet of a hundred matatus on a daily basis without the police being in the know? Why would the minister warn his officers away from the trade? One concludes that some officers may have defended their fraternizing with Mungiki as normal interaction between a matatu investor and the ubiquitous route “managers”.
Another observation that is hard to ignore is the lack of any ownership of the sect. Without a known leadership, one deduces that the sect may have fragmented into independent cell-like formations that may not be communicating with each other. Since they all share a common script, it is easy for localized units to survive and operate independently. If that is the practice, then the authorities will have a hard time containing the sect.
Lack of a witness protection programme will also work against the public partnering with the authorities in containing the sect. If it is true that the sect has sympathizers in the disciplined forces as they assert, the suspicion that the public holds against the police will not help matters.
When all is said and done, I have a feeling that events and outcomes surrounding the Mungiki will leave a profound mark on the national psyche and our collective memory. The country may be affected by this current upsurge in more than one way and for a long time. It surely feels like one National Prayer Day is not enough of Kenya.
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