Advocates of the materialist theory claim that revolutions are not created in people's minds but out of adverse socio-economic conditions. And on this basis, they argue, the Mau Mau liberation war was started in the early Fifties by the Kenyan peasantry after it became disillusioned with the colonial oppressors and the African elite, who were compromised by the colonists. Fifty years later, Kenya's history seems set to repeat itself. Like the materialists, Mr. Waruingi argues that the Mungiki was actually the creation of the present social and economic crises in the country. He says the Mau Mau took up arms only after the colonial government harassed them and forced them into the bush.
Nobody actually intends to fight but one does so after being provoked.
The more you persecute and oppress a people, the more you will turn them into militants. But, he says, by declaring war on the Freemasons, some top religious figures and Government officials started issuing threats to the movement. Waruingi accuses Mr. Madoka of criminalising Mungiki and says that no woman has gone to court to accuse the sect of forcibly circumcising her. Lately, Mungiki has demonstrated a fearlessness and militancy that alarm other citizens and leaders. Its raid on a police station in Murang'a recently was an ominous sign, as was its fight with the police in Nyahururu a few months ago.