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Wednesday, 20 May 2009 at 10:38

"Sometime last month, my son told me that he feared for his life because a vigilante group accused him of being a member of Mungiki and wanted him killed. He wanted to run away from home, but I urged him not to because he would explain his case. We know the vigilantes well and some are our neighbours, so I believed they would hear us out." READ ON...

The boy, who was to sit his KCSE exam this year, confided that it was true
he had been recruited into Mungiki, says his father.

Wanjohi said: "He told me, Dad, I have been scared all this time. Im sorry for letting you down."

He said sometime back, a boy from a neighbouring village laid a trap and led him and two other schoolmates into a Mungiki oath ceremony.

He was to take them to a homestead to borrow books but as soon as they entered the house, they were kidnapped and forced through the recruitment ritual.

They were threatened with death if they ever leaked the secret.

On April 18, he and the other two boys were asked by the local vigilante group to go and explain how they had joined Mungiki.

They told the boys to go in the company of their parents and would be forgiven if they confessed.

He was scared but I told him Be strong, I know they will forgive you."

Later in the day, I took his hand and led him to the vigilantes meeting. The boys explained how they had been forcibly recruited. But as soon as they confessed, the vigilantes leader said he had no powers to forgive. He said the boys must be taken to "The Hague" where their fate would be known.

("The Hague" is a spot near Kagumo town where several Mungiki suspects have been tried by a kangaroo court and executed.)

We followed the mob to "The Hague" where the overall leader said the boys must be killed.

They were kneeling down, crying out and begging to be spared but the leader said what he had ruled must be done.

I asked him Do you truly want to spill my sons blood? Would you make the same ruling if it was your own son?

"By then, I had lost hope. The hurt I felt in my heart is something that will never go away. I knew that boy had done something wrong, but we are all humans and he had asked for forgiveness."

"When the gang was preparing to hack him, a few people said they did not want him killed at the spot and led him to another place. The other parents were with us too, so we followed them as they took the children away. The boys were crying."

I looked at my son and he told me, Dad, dont worry.

"I could not take it any more. The men were brandishing pangas and axes, so I looked at my son one last time and sneaked away. As I walked off, I heard them start hacking the boys.

"I couldnt take the sound, so I started running in the rain and went home. I found his mother waiting up for me and told her they had killed our son. She cried the whole night."

Tags: bann government kenya kenya: kenyan killer mungiki nairobi politicians politics