History of the Mungiki movement in Kenya
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- Mau Mau returns to Kenya
- By Paul Harris, Sydney Morning Herald, Monday
17 January 2000. Thousands of young Kenyans, inspired by the
bloody Mau Mau rebellion that fought British colonial rule,
are flocking to an aggressive religious cult that rejects
the trappings of Western culture. Followers of the so-called
Mungiki youth sect, whose 300,000 members see themselves as
the true sons of the Mau Mau,
decry what they regard
as the more degenerate aspects of Western culture, including
cinemas, alcohol, tobacco and miniskirts.
- Kenyan Churches Alarmed By Spread of
‘Mungiki’ Sect
- Panafrican News Agency, 3 September 2000. The rapid spread
of an unregistered
Mungiki
religious sect, which is
advocating female circumcision, has alarmed mainstream churches
in central Kenya. The sect has been involved in daily confrontations
with officials. The government views the sect, founded early this
year, as an upshot of a revolutionary society.
- Mungiki Leaders Convert to Islam
- The Nation (Nairobi), 3 September 2000. Those
converted from the Mugiki sect to Islam included its
national co-ordinator, Ibrahim Ndura Waruinge, and
founder-member Mohammed Njenga. The Mungiki leaders
expressed thanks and appealed for support to spread the
religion and create a
nation guided by the
Sharia.
- What Makes Mungiki Tick?
- By Muthui Mwai, The Nation (Nairobi) 23
October 2000. The Mungiki sect is purportedly a
revolutionary group which will realise its goal of
converting most of Kenya in two years. The aim is to
spearhead African socialism, to mobilise and bring
economical, political and social changes in society so that
the masses can control their destiny. Relation to the Mau
Mau. Pluralism and tribalism.
- Fury At Attacks Against Women
- The Nation (Nairobi), 24 October
2000. Various institutions and individuals condemn attacks
and harassment meted out on women by members of the Mungiki
sect in Nairobi. The sect members turned rowdy after police
barred them from holding prayers on the Kayole Estate, and
they vented their anger on women passersby dressed in
trousers.
- The Mungiki Mystique Just Shattered to
Pieces
- By Kwamchetsi Makokha, The Nation (Nairobi),
27 October 2000. The intemperance of the Mungiki sect
spilled over the brim last weekend and its stripping,
whipping and humiliation of women in Nairobi marked the end
of movement's carefully cultivated mystique. The Mungiki
came to be regarded as serious since they began taking over
bus stages in Nairobi's Kasarani area in 1996.
- Why Won't the State Clip Them
Dreadlocks?
- By John Githongo, The East African (Nairobi),
15 November 2000. Some people argue that the name of the
Mungiki sect, whose members are mostly from the Gikuyu
community, is derived from the words muingi ki—
we
are the public,
or, not to put too fine a point on it,
it is us.
following the Mau Mau precedent. Social
stress and social revivalism. The sect's political
usefulness.
- Mungiki Sect Members Torch Slum
Village
- By Tervil Okoko, Panafrican News Agency, 9 December
2000. Angry members of Kenya's controversial Mungiki
sect raided Kiang'ombe slums in Thika town, about 25
miles north of Nairobi, and burnt 11 houses to avenge the
recent killing of their two colleagues. Last week, the two
Mungiki adherents were lynched by a mob for allegedly raping
two women in Kiang'ombe village.
- Mungiki Members Censured
- The Nation (Nairobi), 21 December
2000. Muslim leaders accuse the Mungiki sect of having a
hidden agenda and practising double standards. Muslim
Scholar sheikh Mohamed Sheikh warned that Muslims will not
allow a few people to play around with Islam pretending they
were converts.
- Sect Leader Scoffs At Expulsion
Threat
- By Tervil Okoko, Panafrican News Agency, 30 December
2000. The leadership of a Kenyan renegade Islamic
Mungiki
group has dismissed threats by Muslim clerics
to expel the group from the faith because Islam is a
religion and not a political party where one is asked to
quit. No one can send a person packing in a religion of
God.