Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides )- “The operation launched by the police against the Mungiki sect must be seen in the context of the electoral campaign but it also has aspects which go beyond the present situation” Fides learned from a missionary in Nairobi, capital del Kenya where a police operation launched against the Mungiki sect in Mathare slum in the north of the city has been extended to other degraded areas of the capital. “It is true that the government wants to give a clear signal in view of general elections at the end of this year but it must be said that the situation has become unbearable” says the missionary whose name we omit for his security. “In the slum a 'state within the state' has been created”. Members of the Mungiki sect control every aspect of the slum's social life: they have their own “police”, they collect “bribes” and rent for the huts and administer their own 'justice' parallel to that of the state. In addition there are various forms of illegal trafficking and executions carried out with extreme ferocity”.
In recent weeks Kenya was shocked by the discovery of decapitated and horribly mutilated cadavers belonging to some of the sect's victims. “This is the sect's “mark” to distinguish its murders from 'ordinary'. It wants to further terrorise the slum people” the missionary explained.
“Kenya is asking how a similar phenomenon could have developed ” the source told Fides. “Newspaper comments say that the Mungiki sect and similar other groups have been exploited for years by politicians with no scruples. But there is a price to pay, and in exchange for electoral and other kinds of favours, gang leaders want impunity to continue their trafficking and their control over the territory where they have installed themselves”.
“This interpretation is valid but the question goes deeper” the missionary said. “Large numbers of young men without a future are an easy prey for organisations like the Mungiki. School in Kenya has become extremely competitive, pupils must pass severe selections to go from primary school to secondary school and from secondary school to university. Those who fail have difficulty finding work. Some of these youngsters are seduced by the messages of sects and youth gangs. This is an important challenge for evangelisation. The local Catholic Church is very active in Kenya's degraded city districts but a greater effort is required. We need more priests, religious, catechists to spread the message of Christ and offer a real alternative to the lure of the sects which instead mark a return to degraded forms of paganism”.
“The Church wishes for legality to be respected but she also calls for dialogue” the missionary continued. “There is concern that these police operations will create more fractures. In the slums there are criminals but above all there are many people who are their victims. It is with these people that we must dialogue. The Kenyan police has formed a special department to deal with slum dwellers. This is a pilot experiment and it is producing good results. Now they need to increase the number of men this department to make it the diamond point of interventions in these areas” the missionary concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 8/6/2007 righe 43 parole 583)
