Maina Njenga waves at his supporters who turned up for the lunch hour meeting on October 23, 2009 at Jesus Is Alive Ministry. Kenya's Attorney General terminated the case against Mr Njenga and 20 other suspects on Friday through nolle prosequi. Photo/Fredrick Onyango
The barbarism and cruelty of the outlawed Mungiki sect could soon turn to shouts of ‘Hallelujah!’ and ‘Hosanna Messiah’ if its reformed leader Maina Njenga is serious about his conversion to Christianity.
In a charged church service attended by a crowd of excited Mungiki followers, Bishop Margaret Wanjiru preached an emotive sermon, but the star attraction was the gang’s boss.
Snuff
When Mr Njenga invited his followers to bring forward their snuff, a trickle of tobacco wrapped in black polythene bags soon turned into a flood, and a strong aroma added to the heady emotions of the strange occasion. The excited Mungiki followers cheered their leader, and it looked as though the congregation that normally worships there was in danger of seeing their church taken over.
“This church is no longer yours,” Mr Njenga said in his testimony. “Now it’s ours.” He joked to Bishop Wanjiru that she had many young ladies in her congregation while he had many young men among his followers. Sect members cheered in appreciation.
The brutal gang is responsible for murder and extortion in many parts of the country, especially Nairobi, Central and Rift Valley provinces. Mr Njenga, who was tried and acquitted of murder, said he would work to win every Mungiki soul for God.
The sect’s members have in the past converted to Islam, and one of its leaders, Mr Ndura Waruingi, says he is a born-again preacher.
Seek the Lord
Mr Maina also denied that his conversion had anything to do with politics. “I am not here (JIAM) for political reasons, but to seek the Lord,” he said to wild cheers from the congregation, many of them his followers. “All of us will convert.”
He said he had forgiven those who jailed him, saying the time he had spent in prison had changed his life for good. “I read the whole Bible because I had the time. That’s why I said I will not be bitter with those who ordered my arrest because it has saved my soul.”
Mr Njenga was released from the King’ong’o Maximum Security Prison, Nyeri last week after the government withdrew charges against him in relation to the murder of 29 people in Mathira in May. He said he would soon bury his wife, who was killed while she was on her way to visit him at the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison.
Source: Daily Nation
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