Maina Njenga has denied claims that his former group, the Mungiki, is responsible for several violent attacks in the mount kenya region.
Speaking during a citizen TV show, the former Mungiki leader denied allegations, saying that the police attacked the group unprovoked, claiming that any violence seen was a reaction to police provocation.
“I don’t think that Mungiki was very violent. It was the police. Like in the case of Maandamano, if the police would not come to disrupt Maandamano, you would not have chaos. Even in those days, it was the police causing chaos every time, then blamed it on the common mwananchi,” Maina stated.
“When you hear things happening in Mt. Kenya, it was not the youth who were doing those things, it was the government of that day…like the disappearance of the people, harassment, the youth (Mungiki) are very harmless people who cannot even kill a fly,” he added.
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Njenga dismissed claims of the group extorting residents and murdering those who did not conform, claiming that no known cases were ever reported to the police.
Njenga stated that 'Mungiki,' which means "many people" in Kikuyu, was created to accomplish good and was even given permission by then-President Daniel Moi to reorganize the matatu business.
He admitted that the organization may have breached the law a few times but achieved more good and should be excused for the horrors they committed.
"We had authority from the then president Daniel Moi to organize the matatu industry, provide them with drivers, conductors...so that there could be order," he added. We were not requesting money from them. There was an agreement that we should take a specific amount of money for our maintenance and another for the owner."
