Reports of Mungiki sect comeback have returned to haunt a section of traders in Muthurwa market.
It has emerged that some traders are being charged a ‘protection fee’ by persons believed to be members of the outlawed group.
According to the Standard, traders in the market who hail from Western Kenya are being charged Sh180 per stall per day.
Failure to pay the fee; their stalls are vandalized.
One of the traders who requested for anonymity said the gang operates in three groups.
The first group is made up of teenagers, some of whom appear to be street urchins.
They make daily trips to stalls owned by traders from a certain community and demand Sh30 cleaning fee. Failure to pay this money invites death threats.
The second group consist young men who demand Sh50 security fee from yet again, traders from two communities from Western.
The third group of is made up of the ‘leaders’ of the sect. One of them has been identified as Githaiga and he demands from Sh100 from each stall owned by the members of the two western communities.
He brags that he cannot be ‘touched’ because he has good connections with senior government officials.
All this money is separate from the fixed charges they pay the county government in terms of fees and licenses.
“If you fail to comply, they threaten to come for you, claiming Muthurwa market is theirs and that the Government is aware of their presence,” one of the trader said.
A fish monger at the market said all this happens under the watch of city inspectorate officers and police.
“This is sad, and it is happening under the watch of Muthurwa police who should provide security to all the traders,” she said as further quoted by the Standard.
“The leaders who represent this area should come clean on this matter since the gang boasts of being closely associated with some of them.”
The traders have channeled their cry for help to Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Nairobi County Police Commander Japeth Koome.
“We are asking the police boss to come and look into this otherwise Muthurwa is sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.”