The resurgence of Mungiki has been blamed to the loss of millions at City Hall as the County Government of Nairobi failed to meet its revenue collection from markets by almost Ksh100 million.
Markets Director Fredrick Ndunyi claimed that the gang has been extorting traders in several markets including Korogocho thus frustrating the county revenue officers, the traders and at the same time hurting the county’s revenue collection targets.
Ndunyi made these allegations when he was taken to task by the County Assembly Trade Committee over the fall of revenue collection from Ksh253.8 million to Ks146.2 million.
He also went on to claim that the revenue officers on the ground were working in fear as the sect members kept threatening them.
“Our officers are very insecure and, yes, we share revenue with this militia group that has deployed scaring mechanisms to intimidate our officers who in turn fall into their trap,” Ndunyi added.
Despite the claims, some members of the committee could hear none of it as they claimed that was a recurrent excuse by revenue staff in trying to fleece the county of its earnings.
“I do business in Korogocho and have not seen or heard of any Mungiki member. This is just an allegation meant for people to steal money from the government. We are dealing with Al-Shabaab; we cannot be intimidated by Mungiki. This is a pure lie,” the Committee chair Charles Thuo stated.
It was estimated that the county government was losing over Ksh400 million a year in over 100 markets across the capital.
Reports revealed that the county was only able to collect revenue from 43 main markets, raising concerns about weak enforcement from the revenue team.
Market revenue has not been meeting its targets in the past financial years despite the allocation of substantial amounts in budgets.
