The rising political temperatures, high unemployment rate, biting poverty and pandemic blues have led to the re-emergence of criminal gangs in Mt Kenya.
Many are believed to be former members of the crushed Mungiki sect and are allegedly preparing for political violence ahead of the 2022 General Election.
The usual suspects, rogue politicians and wealthy businessmen, are reportedly behind the gangs that are spreading panic and fear across the region in what is expected to be the toughest campaign period in history.
In the run-up to the 2007 General Election, there were bloody confrontations between hired gangs and security agents in Central and Rift Valley, which turned most areas into battle zones as Kenya stood on the precipice of self-destruction.
After the disputed presidential results, where President Mwai Kibaki beat ODM candidate Raila Odinga by the narrowest of margins, post-election violence claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced more than half-a-million people.
In the months before and after the election, security agents wiped out Mungiki members in an operation ordered by Internal Security minister John Michuki to restore peace and order in the restive region. But now, the ghosts of 2006/07 have returned to haunt Mt Kenya.
In Murang’a County, the gang is slowly coming out in various names that include ‘Nja Nene’, who are extorting money from Public Service Vehicles plying the Kangari/Kaharate route.
Across the region, ‘Gwata Ndaĩ’ have been promoting female genital mutilation, while ‘Lakers’ and ‘Holy Basilica’ are other notorious gangs suspected of frequent attacks and murders that have paralysed some villages.
Murang’a County Commissioner Fredrick Ndunga said security agents have formed partnerships with residents to rein in the gangs and restore the rule of law.
“People had expressed fears for their lives should they tip us about the gangs’ activities. We have given them toll free and confidential numbers to channel the tips to us for prompt action,” he said.
In Kirinyaga, County Commissioner Jim Njoka confirmed the arrest of eight Mungiki suspects, adding that “the crackdown is ongoing since we do not want a revisit of the gang’s activities in this area”.
Going by the name ‘Wasame’, the sect has recruited former vigilantes and dangerous criminals blamed for murders and other notorious activities. The group is reportedly laying down modalities of engagement in the campaigns and remains open to violent tenders from rogue politicians.
Kandara sub-county police boss Catherine Ringera has pointed an accusing finger at a local politician widely believed to be behind ‘Gwata Ndaí’. She spoke of phone calls where the politician allegedly issued death threats to a rival.
In Murang’a South, ‘Jeshi ya Gaica’ works with ‘Lakers’ and ‘Holy Basilica’ to commit rape, defilement and murder with abandon. Deputy County Commissioner Mawira Mungania has vowed to arrest the culprits, their financiers and facilitators.
“The three gangs are connected to serious crimes that include narcotics and illicit brew. We are also aware of parents who have been facilitating the escape of their criminal children to hideouts outside the county, especially in Nairobi. We shall arrest all of them,” he said.
The gang is also behind the frequent conflicts among boda boda operators in Nyeri while in parts of Nyandarua and Laikipia, it operates as an economic and political empowerment movement under the command of a former Mungiki leader.
Central Regional Commissioner Wilfred Nyagwanga said the groups are being dealt with as criminals “but not as their mutated names and identities”.
“Securing the region won’t play too much to the sideshows of profiling the outfits with their mutational tags, rather, we will deal with them as criminals. It’s not a war against names, tribe, faces or regions, but purely against miscreants and their criminal enterprises, where it also includes any of their sponsors or godfathers,” he vowed.
Speaking in Murang’a in February, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said security organs had started conducting a security risk assessment survey in the region after a period of suspicious political activities.
“Under normal circumstances, politically-based risk assessment surveys are conducted a few months before the general election, but this time round, we have commenced early due to the kind of politics we are being treated to by some leaders,” the CS said during the priestly golden jubilee of the Retired Most Reverend Peter Kairo at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Murang’a.
In May, armed youths showed up in Murang’a town to express support for two factions that were tussling about the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), increasing tensions about insecurity ahead of the 2022 polls.
Career administrator Joseph Kaguthi, who hails from Nyandarua County, said political competition has become a matter of life and death, where wealthy politicians take on the daring.
This has necessitated rogue politicians to sponsor gangs that are ready to kill, maim and displace at the sight of cash.
“Kenyans will remember that by 1997, when we held our second multiparty general election, nearly all politicians had a ragtag militia armed to battle their rivals. It was a new phenomenon and security agencies had not anticipated the challenge and that’s why the country was caught on the wrong footing as more people died in political campaigns,” said Mr Kaguthi.
The problem became entrenched because politicians rallied their followers behind their selfish interests, irrespective of consequences, while others joined forces to advance the use of ‘political jeshis’.
“In my career, which has seen me serve in Rift Valley, Nairobi, Eastern and North Eastern as well as being personal assistant to Michuki, politically gangs are the biggest threat to our youth after every five years,” said Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya.
Mr Natembeya said trouble begins with the big tribes that compete for high office as a matter of life and death and since 2010, the gangs have been devolved to the county level, where they get recruited/funded by competing forces.
“This makes campaign seasons volatile to extent of inducing capital flight from the economy. Going forward, security agents won’t be passive onlookers as the youth get wasted in dangerous games that some of our politicians play,” he added.
Mr Natembeya said security agents will work round-the-clock to dismantle the gangs, arguing that the core business of government “is to protect lives and property, and to sanitise our politics”.
