They are bad and answerable to no one. When they cough, Kirinyaga gets a cold as their word is law and they have assumed the power of life and death over terrified villagersliving in the stranglehold of their machetes and killer clubs.
For close to 10 years, Muthii Mware, who was born in Kagumo, has been on the run. This was after he was accused of being a member of the outlawed Mungiki sect, which was involved in the killing of at least 26 people in Karatina in 2009.
When Mware sneaked back home at twilight on October 29 this year, his 80-year-old mother Marion Muthoni was overjoyed on seeing her long lost son. He had been away for a long time during which his wife and son had vanished, leaving Mware’s mother lonely.
What Mware did not know was that the village paths of Kiragana had eyes that could see in the dark and that his return and subsequent movements would be reported to the all powerful vigilante group.
The following day, October 30, at around 10am, a motorbike innocently passed by Mware’s home as he busied himself in the compound, gathering sand around the incomplete building of his sister.
His mother too was in the compound and saw the motorbike but did not think much about it.
“Mware had taken breakfast at my house and picked up some building tools. He started putting together some building ballast and sand and continued up to 1am without any sign of an impending attack,” recalls Muthoni.
The frail and emaciated woman recalls how out of the blues, an army of hooded men swarmed her compound like bees. The mother watched tongue-tied as one of the invaders struck her prodigal son on the head with an axe, killing him instantly.
Hanged on a tree
“When I saw the cruelty being meted on my son by the vigilante members who warned of dire consequences should I intervene, I took off and hid in a latrine until the gang left the homestead,” she says.
A witness, who did not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal from the killer group, said she first noticed a boda boda operator stopping by Muthoni’s gate probably to spy whether Mware was indeed at home.
“After the operator rode off, I saw within minutes a huge crowd of hooded men storming the home, they then surrounded Mware and the rest is history,” the witness says.
Mware’s mother was later told that her son’s lifeless body was carried away by the gang and hanged on a tree, near Kiangai market on the Kagumo-Karatina road.
Horrified neighbours and motorists who saw Mware’s body scurried away for fear of reprisals.
Mware, according to information provided to the Sunday Standard by sources privy to the sect, was not just an adherent but Mungiki’s chief oath administrator, hence his position’s gravity in the criminal gang.
After the police were notified, they moved the body to Karatina Sub-county Hospital mortuary.
And as Muthoni and her immediate relatives mourned their son, the vigilante lurked in the shadows of Kiragana. Their mission was to ensure no mourning or vigils, popularly known as maombolezi, were held in the homestead.
When the gang learnt that the family was planning to bury Mware on November 6, they sent an emissary to the terrified mother with a chilling message.
“On the eve of Mware’s funeral, we were informed by proxy from the vigilantes that we should within 15 minutes bury him and not have any religious ceremony conducted,” Muthoni says.
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, recalled how the vigilantes hovered around to ensure the 15-minute burial ultimatum was complied with to the letter.
“This made us feel insecure and horrified and there was no option but to keep off as ordered by the vigilantes whom we were told came from Karatina and Kagumo,” the neigbour says.
Muthoni says her family had been warned of dire consequences should it even hold any night vigil prior to the burial date.
She says due to that fear instilled in them, they buried Mware in a record eight minutes while no outsiders were allowed at the home. There were no prayers, eulogies or tributes. They just carried his casket from the hearse and quickly dumped it into the grave, which had been dug earlier, and quickly covered it with soil before the 15 minutes deadline expired.
When we visited Muthoni in her home early this week, she was still trying to come to terms with her loss. She described her predicament, saying she was very lonely because no friend or neighbour could visit her. She said the home is cold and lonely like a grave.
Muithoni’s family should count itself lucky. Sometimes in 2013, Kirinyaga County was numbed when the same vigilante group waylaid a burial procession and descended on the mourners.
When the mourners scampered for safety at Kabonge area, the vigilante members pounced on the hearse carrying the remains of 22-year-old Mwangi Murungaru, fondly known as Pilipili to his Mungiki comrades.
They grabbed the casket, doused it with petrol and set it ablaze and did the same to the hearse. By the time the mourners regrouped, there was no body to bury.
In 2009 Mungiki reigned terror in Kirinyaga as its members raped women and their daughters as fathers watched and imposed taxes on residents.
However, the tide turned when a vigilante group was formed to tackle the excesses of Mungiki.
Its signature act was the hacking to death of Jane Maina, a retired teacher, after she was accused of harbouring Mungikiadherents.
She was cut into pieces in her home in Kianoe village as police and neighbours watched and her house and three vehicles set ablaze.
At Kiaragana, security officers say no suspects have been arrested in connection with Mware’s killing last month.
