Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Leaders ‘used Mungiki for gain’



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Former Mungiki chairman Maina Njenga before the Truth Justice and Recionciliation commission at NHIF building on March 12 2012. Njenga refuted claims that the group was a militia. Phoebe/PHOEBE OKALL
Former Mungiki chairman Maina Njenga before the Truth Justice and Recionciliation commission at NHIF building on March 12 2012. Njenga refuted claims that the group was a militia. Phoebe/PHOEBE OKALL  
By CAROLINE WAFULA cwafula@ke.nationmedia.com and JIM GUTETA jguteta@gmail.com
Posted  Monday, March 12  2012 at  22:30
IN SUMMARY
  • Ex-sect leader Maina Njenga says State leaders and police armed and financed the illegal group’s heineous acts
Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga on Monday said the illegal sect was infiltrated by ‘bad elements’, including politicians, who misused it.
Mr Njenga, who testified before the Truth team in Nairobi, denied claims that the group committed heinous acts across the country. He said the crimes were carried out by individuals who disguised themselves as members of Mungiki.
“A section of politicians interfered with the group and incited its members to criminal activities, otherwise the group had a very clear vision of bringing together young people with an aim of finding ways to help them progress in life,” he told the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission sitting at NHIF Building.
Mr Njenga, who now claims to be a born-again Christian, said the group started as a youth welfare organisation, and that it existed for 20 years before it was banned by the government.
He told the commission that some elements in government, including politicians and security forces, armed Mungiki and financed atrocities for selfish ends.
“Those in government and police should be people of integrity because the same officers are the ones who equipped the youth and incited them to violence,” he stated.
In other cases, Mr Njenga said, members of the group fought back to protect themselves from police.
Police, he said, should be trained to neither work with nor arm criminals. He said that some members of the Mungiki sect got weapons from their relatives serving in the security forces.
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“They have brothers in the forces and they easily got the weapons,” he stated.
Mr Njenga, who was baptised at Jesus is Alive Ministries, said that the government started fighting Mungiki before anyone attempted to find out what it was all about.
He said authorities should first have dialogue with such groups before condemning them as criminal.
Mungiki has been linked to the 2007/8 post-election chaos.

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