Nine women MPs from the Mt Kenya region are asking the government to crack down on the banned Mungiki saying the proscribed sect had regrouped and taken control of businesses and transport sectors in the region.
At a press conference at Parliament Buildings yesterday, the MPs, who threatened to mobilise demonstrations in Mt Kenya region should the government fail to crack down on the criminals said some of the gang members have been demanding money from business owners to allow them to continue operating.
”We MPs drawn from the Mt Kenya region have noted with concern the recent attempts to revive and sanitise the activities of the outlawed Mungiki sect by clandestine forces aimed at destabilising the peace and tranquillity in our region and the nation at large,” the legislators said in statement read by Nyandarua Woman Rep Faith Gitau.
She said the group had in the past disrupted the social fabric of the society and should not be allowed to re-emerge.
Mary Wamaua, the Maragua MP, demanded that the government take action against the gangs which, she said, were creating fear among the people. “We hereby demand that Prof Kithure Kindiki, CS Interior, immediately cracks down on any resurgence of Mungiki as has been recently witnessed on several occasions,” she said.
Other legislators who were a the press conference were Jane Kagiri (Laikipia Woman Rep), Alice Ng’ang’a (Thika Town), Ann Muratha (Kiambu Woman Rep), Irene Njoki (Bahati MP) Jayne Kihara (Naivasha MP) Rahab Mukami (Nyeri Woman Rep) and Pamela Njoki (Embu Woman Rep).
PSVs plying the Ruiru-Nairobi route have in the past complained that criminal gangs have been harassing and forcing them to pay protection fees.
The MPs spoke about a week after former leader Maina Njenga said the sect had ceased operations after his retirement.
