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Kenyan
police disperse sect members
by Jennifer Wanjiru, Rights Features Service
(September 13, 2000)
Religious tolerance and freedom of assembly once again came under
test in Kenya on September 9 when police violently dispersed adherents
of a local traditional sect that has converted to Islam.
Police dispersed Mungiki
followers by firing shots in the air and lobbing tear gas on them
after they intercepted the group in downtown Nairobi's Race Course
Road. The Mungiki faithful were preparing to march towards a Freemason
Hall, which they claimed was "a den of Satan's followers in the
country."
 Acting
on a tip-off, the police descended on the faithful and ordered
them to disperse. But the sect followers reiterated by shouting
"anti-government" epithets according to Patrick Mbarire, a police
commander who led the Saturday onslaught.
The Mungiki national
co-ordinator, Ibrahim Ndura Waruinge said the meeting had been
called to enlighten other followers about the Islamic faith and
to demystify fears that converts were abandoning the traditional
Mungiki faith.
"We wanted to show
them how Mungiki would operate as an Islamic movement," says Waruinge.
The police confiscated
seven Qurans and an amplifier and arrested seven leaders of the
sect.
Mungiki followers converted
to Islam on September 2 and received 10,000 Qurans from the National
Council of Imamas and Muslim Preachers for distribution to the
sect members.
The first batch of
100 Mungiki faithful will from Monday, September 11 undergo training
in Arabic language at a Mombasa college, at the Kenyan coast.
"We are serious and
fully in Islam. The government officials whom have in the past
claimed that we have no religion should now shut up and stop asking
why we made this decision," says Mungiki women's leader, Khadija
Wangari Nunu.
Local Christian churches
have for the last month been voicing concern over the Mungiki
faith which is spreading fast in Central Kenya. A Senior Cabinet
minister, Sharrif Nassir, a Muslim, has also warned that the converts
"have a hidden agenda and were out to cause trouble."
But Waruinge, the Mungiki
sect leader, issued a press statement over the weekend, in which
he warned the government against taking on the sect. "We are here
to fight corruption and oppression," said Waruinge.
During the Saturday
skirmishes, three people are reported injured while many were
injured as police violently dispersed the sect.
"We have a right to
assemble like any other religion in the country and we do not
require a permit for that," says Waruinge.
He said that his members
would not be cowed by the constant harassment by police officers.
Mungiki members have been at loggerheads with the government that
accuse them of planning to "overthrow" the government. The government
also claims that Mungiki followers support female circumcision,
which they deny.
Mungiki followers have
always collided with police who constantly disperse their prayers.
Many of the followers have cases in court charged with illegal
assembly.
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