By County Team

Public transport in parts of Central Province has been put in a stranglehold by a murderous gang similar to the dreaded and outlawed Mungiki.

Recent incidents in the area where matatu operators are abducted and their mutilated bodies recovered  weeks later brings memories of the mid 2000s when the region was under Mungiki’s  reign of terror

For weeks, tension has been building up in Gatundu, Kiambu County following the murder of two matatu SACCO officials.

Following the death of Umoja Nissan SACCO Gatundu town stage manager, Peter Gatura this month, transport between Gatundu and Nairobi was paralysed for days as  operators withdrew their vehicles protesting the killing.

Mr Gatura was killed at his Ituiku village home in Gatundu South District, where he was confronted by a gun wielding gang and shot three times in the presence of his family.

Tension has been heightened after two more people, a driver and the chairman of Umoja SACCO, were last week abducted and are yet to be found.

No taking risks

Their disappearance has triggered another protest in the area paralysing transport.

Pius Kimani Karumba is the abducted chairman of the SACCO while Kamau Waithaka, the driver. Although no matatu Sacco in Central acknowledges paying loyalties to illegal groupings, individual matatu operators confess internal arrangements with “anake” (Kikuyu for youths) are widespread and allocations from member contributions almost always provided for.

Besides, at busy pickup points along major highways, locally based groups charge matatus for dropping or picking passengers with non optional monthly and weekly charges and optional per trip charge for those who want touting assistance to entice passengers to board.

According to an operator with a Nanyuki based Sacco, the most notorious highway pick up point gang in Central Kenya is at Githurai Roundabout on the outskirts of Nairobi where levy collection and documentation continues even in broad daylight.

Other notorious highway points include Kenol (Makutano), Mwea Makutano, Ruiru and Karatina and Marua turnoff in Nyeri County.

In Nyeri town, matatu operators under the two main Saccos operating routes connecting to Nairobi and major towns have also voiced concerns about the upsurge of “Mungiki like” behaviour in the town.

At the Nyeri main bus terminus which caters for southern bound routes to Nairobi, Murang’a, Othaya, Embu, Thika and Keruguoya, operators say the area is strictly controlled by a gang of well known thugs in the early hours before 7 am and after 6.30 in the evening.

Nyeri OCPD Kirunya Limbitu has been quoted in the press saying the main Saccos are to blame for declining to provide adequate information to help the police quash this cartel which collects up to Sh200 per matatu operating in the stage during the said hours.

But one Sacco official said they had provided the police with names and adequate information to enable them carry out arrests “even for illegal touting.”

“The feeling we get is that the police will only act if people commit themselves to writing statements that could be used in prosecutions. Who is ready to take that risk?” said a Sacco official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Dangerous turn of events

The heightened suspicious activities come in wake of a show of force by former leaders of the sect when they unveiled 33-year-old John Gathogo Githaiga as the Mkenya Solidarity Movement candidate for the Kangema parliamentary seat formerly held by John Michuki, dubbed ‘the Mungiki terminator’.

The unveiling of the candidate after a 300 vehicle convoy tour of the Murang’a County constituencies of Kangema, Kiharu and Mathioya sort of unnerved many in the security organs according to one District Commissioner in the county.

“For these people, you might never be able to draw a straight line where Mungiki ends and the Mkenya Union starts,” says the administrator.

There are also fears that some divisional police commanders are getting becoming “friendly” to leaders of the former outlawed grouping. In the Murang’a show of tour of the former leaders, some police officers by the roadside saluted the convoy wherever it passed.

“This is a dangerous turn of events especially if things turn ugly in future,” says the worried Murang’a County DC speaking in confidence.

According to many observers, Murang’a country remains the epicentre of the remnants of the dreaded group and happening there have a direct bearing in other zones within the former Central Kenya and Nairobi.

But things have been rather ugly at Gatundu in Kiambu County where at least three deaths have been blamed on a grouping with traits similar to the dreaded sect.

Losing two fingers

According to Gatundu OCPD, Peter Kattam, the latest dead, Waithaka had been hired to ferry avocados in his matatu by a person who had spent a night at his (Waithaka’s) home.

 The owner of the avocados, a Kimani, reportedly failed to return home on Wednesday and family members have not communicated with him since then.

His wife Ruth Wairimu said she last talked to him as he left home for work on Wednesday morning.

It is alleged that Kimani had been receiving text messages and phone calls threatening him with death since the day Mr Gatura was buried.

He had allegedly been warned that he would be the next to face the wrath of an anonymous gang, causing anxiety among residents and matatu crew.

The killing and disappearance triggered memories of a similar killing of another Matatu stage manager, George Kihara Muhia, in May 2010.

The then 42-year old was hacked to death by gangsters as he reported to work.

In October 2010, Kimani was attacked at his home in Ichaweri but survived, having lost two fingers and sustained head injuries.

The incidents have been blamed on business rivalry among matatu operators. Others fear the outlawed Mungiki sect could be re-emerging.

As such, matatu operators have expressed fear for the lives of the missing colleagues, raising concern that the illegal extortionist gang may be behind the kidnappings.

Mr Kattam, however, says police believe the dastardly acts could have been committed by ordinary criminals and not necessarily the group.