- Njenga is also facing charges of engaging in criminal activities.
- Police accuse him of inviting individuals to the said meeting at Wanyororo area where he is alleged to have provided instructions connected with Mungiki
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Security has been heightened in parts of Nakuru ahead of the planned arraignment of former Mungiki Leader Maina Njenga.
He is expected to face several criminal charges among them being a member of an organised criminal group.
Njenga who was Thursday grilled by DCI detectives in Nairobi is accused of addressing a meeting at Wanyororo area in Nakuru County on May 11, 2023 to "encourage support" for the outlawed criminal group, Mungiki.
Njenga is also facing charges of engaging in criminal activities.
Police accuse him of inviting individuals to the said meeting in Wanyororo where he is alleged to have provided instructions connected with Mungiki.
He is also accused of being in possession of government stores where he is alleged to have been found in possession of “a military backpack strap, property of the National Police Service that is suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained.”
Police said they will not allow anyone to meet in the area in the name of escorting Njenga to court.
This comes as interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said they will crush any plan to revive the Mungiki group.
He noted Sunday that the Mt. Kenya region had suffered deeply from illegal groupings such as Mungiki in the past, warning that political leaders who are trying to revive the group will not be entertained.
“Any person or any leader, regardless of their stature or rank, present or past leader, elected or not elected, trying to recruit our young people to join proscribed organizations like Mungiki, we are coming for you,” Kindiki warned.
Kindiki cautioned that the government will not allow the country to slide back to where it was 20 years ago when Mungiki and other proscribed groups terrorized citizens.
“Any attempts to revive these criminal gangs will be dealt with the same ruthlessness as the fight against banditry,” he added.
Kindiki pointed out that in as much as Kenya is a democratic country, the government will not allow anyone to incite or hurt the country’s unity and stability.
Njenga is set to be charged alongside 11 of his followers with whom they face 12 counts of engaging in criminal activities and unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of bhang and possession of records likely to be useful to a person preparing a serious crime.
Last Thursday, police were forced to lob teargas canisters at hundreds of people who had shown up at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters in Nairobi in support of Njenga.
Njenga presented himself at the Nakuru law courts Wednesday following reports police are looking for him. The court ordered him to go see the police.
Nakuru police later ordered him to go to DCI headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday which he did.
And after driving with him around the city on Thursday, the officers took him to Nairobi Area offices near Traffic and released him. They told him to present himself in court on Monday, May 29.