Scary People

Every once in a while I come across a story in the paper that is so unbelievable that I feel compelled to share it. The preamble before the headline of the story reads - "Eye for Eye: Group tosses duo in granary and sets it on fire to prevent their 'spirits' from protecting Karunyu." The headline itself said "Revenge as youth lynch wife, gang leader's mother".

The story continues .... "Young men armed with crude weapons have set out to hunt for a five man gang that killed 12 people in Nyanyaa village of village of Endui location in Kitui County. The youth numbering about 50 have a clear mission in their minds; to hunt down and kill Kilonzo Musyoka alias Karunyu, a man believed to be the leader of the killer gang.............

.....And to prove they meant business the youth raided the home of Karunyu where they found his newly wed wife and 70-year-old mother, Nzoka Mbulo. They tied the two women with ropes, tossed them in a granary full of sorghum and set it on fire. They stood guard as the women's cries faded away, thick smoke and fire enveloping the entire granary.............

..........Two more houses in the homestead were set on fire. "In Kamba tradition , when you commit murder and run, your parents must be killed because their spirits might protect you. Now that his mother is gone it will be easy to catch him" said a youth who participated in the macabre revenge attack............

........On Thursday three of the suspects were nabbed by the youths and clobbered to death .......[The] Deputy Commandant of the Administration Police Service .....said a police patrol car would be stationed at Mui to bolster security in the area."

This particular case is more extreme than the usual lynching stories carried by the press but I still don't know what to fear most - a belief system that condones brutal murder or the armed gang of killers.