By Standard Reporters
Although more than 45 people have been killed in bloody conflicts between Mungiki and residents in Kirinyaga and Nyeri East districts, the police appear helpless.
The security agents have been accused of making matters for allegedly backing vigilantes, whose lawlessness has made many youths flee their homes and left locals cowering in fear.
Interviews with residents bring out the picture of a people enveloped in fear of Mungiki, vigilantes and even police.
Many agree the Mungiki are often brutal, but the vigilante groups formed to counter the outlawed gang, are equally vicious.
Police support
Vigilantes in Kirinyaga, who have killed at least 15 people and appear to have police backing, operate with abandon, spreading terror in homes, some sources claim.
In one of the most callous actions last Saturday, the vigilantes killed three students of Mutitu Day Secondary School, who had allegedly turned up to seek forgiveness in Kiamuthira. The vigilantes had lured the youth, promising them forgiveness if they confessed.
"They had even met them in the company of their parents. But the moment they confessed and sought forgiveness, they were lynched," said a resident who did not want to be named.
Consequently, young men have fled homes in droves, leaving only the elderly. This is because when the vigilantes merely suspect someone of being a Mungiki follower, he is hunted down and lynched.
In Karuko village near Kagumo Market in Kirinyaga, Mr Peterson Kinyua is a troubled man. A week ago, hundreds of vigilantes wielding pangas and rungus (machetes and clubs) descended on his home, and killed his son, Julius Karimi.
"We were scared. They demolished his house and carted the rubble to the roadside and burnt it," said Kinyua.
