In August 2006, i was in my home village in Murang'a county. I had just cleared my campus studies in the University of Nairobi. To be specific Chiromo Campus, the home of the living and the dead. And as i threw in CVs here and there, the normal Kenyan style, i got a short contract with the defunct Electoral Commission Of Kenya. Don't accuse me of having associated with an incompetent commission. These days you may never know the gravity of your former appointments until you apply for a public post and you are going through some vetting. For future reference, i state categorically that the ECK that time was competent and what i was doing was a legitimate and noble task; i was doing voter registration.
I had been in Nairobi for sometime and it occured to me that a few things had changed in my home county. One of them was that some of my fellow young men had succumbed to the influence of the outlawed Mungiki Sect and had become faithful followers and practitioners of the outlawed sect. It was shocking news because although the Mungiki Menace was the top news in the country that time, i would never have imagined that my former classmates, my friends, my neighbours and even relatives would form part of my worries in this world. At least not in that style. They say whatever bites you is on your garment, i mean we were all living in fear of people we didn't have to fear. My constituency, Mathioya for that matter had always been a calm and secure place surrounded by areas where the Mungiki menace was quickly spreading. But now the reality of this bad influence on our young men had become a homimg reality. Wonders will never cease.
During this time, i remembered how in 2002, i had started a passionate campaign aimed at enlightening young people in my locality. As a young preacher and youth leader, i had partnered with some like minded young people and we would hold seminars and meetings aimed at positively influencing young people and encouraging them to live positively and to involve themselves in constructive usages as they seek to be better people. Many of us went to pursue higher education after that and perhaps the good work we started was discontinued or perhaps the Mungiki influence had become too strong to beat. It was sad to see young men waste themselves yet pretend to be the society heroes. I bet that was a classical form of deception and the worst to ever hit our youth. It is incredible how strong young men would turn to idlers and imagine that they will profit from the efforts of others, worst of all the elders who had raised them.
As for me i saw a nation with a dull future and one that would turn tragic. I imagined what would happen when so many young people joined this sect and continued to endanger lives of Kenyans. The kind of stories that were coming through that time were worrying. Of people beheaded, of young men forcibly circumcising their sisters and their mothers. Of extortion of money from business people. And of live threats that had reached worrying magnitudes. This was glorification of insanity and our society was becoming one where life was void to those who merited and it seemed our nation was being taken over by thugs and crooks. One wondered what the future offered with gangs fast taking over livelihoods and there was no solution at hand. It was particularly worrying that some leaders were tolerating these gangs for their own gain and it was disgusting to see how senseless some leaders could become.
In those days, people talked in whispers especially when it had to do with the sect. The fear of death had become so intense that many people in Central Kenya, riftvalley and Nairobi were not sure they would live an extra day. The bad part of this era was that the sect was targeting innocent Kenyans to prove a point to the government. We felt helpless and we wondered how all of a sudden emerging crooks had become too much and the government was not of help. They say the arm of the government is long but that time we felt that if indeed the government has a long arm, then that arm must have been cut by the gangs that were emerging. I remember an old man in my village telling me how youth was being abused, “in the days of old, whenever young men armed themselves, their community felt safe and we would sleep sound”, he said. “These days our biggest life threat is our youth”, he continued. The glaring reality of a wasting young generation was becoming everyone’s concern. He was one of the Maumau survivors and he wondered where the society was headed to when it lived in fear of its own. In fact alongside Mungiki were many other informal armed groups that kept our fists on our bellies. We badly needed a solution and we did not mind the form in which it came.
So when the bold minister John Michuki gave a warning to Mungiki to surrender or face the wrath of government, we felt that was the solution we badly needed. We had similar words from former ministers and security chiefs and we hoped that for once someone would live to their words. Michuki is my county man and I wondered how he would deal with Mungiki after considering that a good number of them came from an area he called home and we have been used to politicians preaching water and drinking wine. But with the track record that this bold leader had shown in taming the matatu sector, we were somehow optimistic. And all we could say was, “ do it Michuki, we trust your styles”.
Michuki gave shoot to kill orders and human rights groups were on his case. But the unapologetic Michuki went on and Kenyans were surprised at the might that the government can show when it wants to. In my constituency a contingent of twenty General Service Unit offices were sent in one truck and two land rovers. To date no one believes that only twenty security men could tame youth in a whole constituency. It is known as the might of government. Michuki taught us that there comes a time to make hard decisions for a better future. He did not mince his words and he warned parents in Murang’a to talk to their children otherwise be prepared to bury them. Those were painful words coming from a government officer. And his word to the human rights activits was, “ Kenyans can choose, whether they want to continue being killed by Mungiki or whether they want the government to kill Mungiki”.
We hail Michuki for turning our tense lives and rekindling hope. The trend that the nation had shown was worrying and we have enough proof because it is through this same wave of armed gangs that the Kenya 2007 post election violence was propagated. I hope we young people leant lessons from this dark era in our country’s history. I pray that Kenya teaches Africa that a country can correct bad trends and reform. I pray that we all learn that there will never be any good fruit from crime and violence. We hope that in this new dispensation Kenyan leaders will be bold enough like John Michuki and do the needful whatever the cost. This is an election year and the least we can pray is that whatever happens, we will embrace each other and seek peace. I appeal to all young men and women to refuse any bad influence, to get rid of anything that comes in the way of a prosperous nation.
Think about this? Where would Kenya be today if we had allowed Mungiki and other gangs to continue raining terror? Where would we be I the 2008 post election violence had not been contained in time? Perhaps many of us would not be alive to read this article. Perhaps our economy would be on its knees and many would have died of starvation. When I see the wonderful roads, the vibrant economy, clean cities, smiling Kenyans, I can only pray that we will never get back to this bad state. There is a saying in my language that goes, “death comes not when you get into a bad habit, but when you reform and later return to the bad habit”. This is a history never to repeat dear Kenyans.
Chris Kahuria
Accountant,
Nairobi Peace Initiative- Africa
P.O Box 14894-00800
Tel: 4441444
Nairobi, Kenya
Cell: 0724 968 689
Email: ckahuria@npi-africa.org
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