PS Omollo opens up on rising goon violence and election fears

Question: We have heard references being made to you being PS Interior and Insecurity. Is this a concern that you are described as a PS of Insecurity? 

PS Omollo: I would not want to go back and forth with politicians. I have now been PS of Internal Security for over three years. When I came in, muggings and things were happening in Nairobi CBD, there was banditry in the North Rift, there was pressure from terrorism and to a larger extent, we have stabilised the security situation in the country. 

There are security realities we face such as the re-emergence of goons, Kenyans wonder what the government is saying yet their reality on the ground is different…

The case around goons is a historic system in this country. We have a youthful population, and people are looking for opportunities to either go back to school or find jobs, and we must have a conversation on how to address this. Under President (William)Ruto, there is a deliberate attempt to address the youth challenge in terms of how do we open up opportunities through jobs, for people to get involved in business, such as the NYOTA programme, the labour mobility programme and work in the Affordable Housing Programme. 

These measures may take time to work. Before we absorb this huge population of youth, what is being done now?

In the immediate term, the Affordable Housing houses are being built now, the NYOTA programme for business support is happening now, and education opportunities are happening now. 

Since the 2023 protests to 2025, many people are usually arrested, but nothing follows…

The police have the responsibility to arrest and then the DPP takes over, and the Judiciary has a role too. People will go to court and some are released on cash bail, then there are follow-ups and there are cases where people are detained for longer.

This process helps us deal with the criminals and also help us clear those who might have been taken to court wrongly. Conviction is something outside the jurisdiction of the ministry and I do not want to speak on the merits and demerits of it. 

In 2025, we saw young men with rungus walking next to police officers and later on were chanting outside the office of a governor that they have protected the city but they were not arrested….

The police are completely independent and it is happening for the first time under the tenure of President Ruto. There is a clear chain of command.

A few weeks ago, Senator Geffrey Osotsi was attacked in Kisumu and political leaders were not shy to link you with the attack. Why not any other PS or CS?

As far as I am concerned, we are a country governed by the rule of law. Why would the PS for Internal Security look for criminals to do my bidding? It is incomprehensible. In this particular case, those involved were apprehended and taken through a process.

Read: How goons hijacked protests and unleashed terror on the public

In the arrangement between UDA and ODM, leaders are still saying PS Omollo is responsible for the infiltration of UDA in Homa Bay, some even calling for your ouster from office.

I don’t know if there is anybody who has a problem with me. All I know is that I serve the whole nation and I do my work and I have got a lot of respect for all the leaders…The issue of being removed from office lies with the appointing authority. 

PS, are you a member of a political party?

No.

Are you responsible for the infiltration of UDA in Homa Bay and the larger Nyanza region?

UDA is the ruling political party, they have their structures, leadership including in Homa Bay. I am not a member of UDA. I am not in any political party.

We are heading to an electioneering period. We are seeing politicians again taking us back to goons and use of tribal incitement. Is anything being done to ensure we do not go back to what happened in 2007?

From where I sit, yes, there are concerns. The level of intolerance is something we need to address. If there is a challenge, say healthcare, or now the conversation around fuel, are we able to sit and have a conversation as opposed to resorting to tribal prejudices? 

There is a lady who was recently doused in acid and later died. The attacked was allegedly due a tattoo of the President she had on her body. We have seen other political engagements turn violent yet we are heading to elections next year…

As an administration, we must be clear on what we are doing and handling these issues. Independent institutions like the National Cohesion and Integration Commission must do their work.  The media too. There is a lot of civic education and IEBC is doing a good job with the by-elections we have had. For the criminal elements, those who want to be violent, we will punish them. 

The season of people deciding to close down roads illegally and terrorise others is becoming so rampant towards elections. What assurance do you give us?

We will do our part and everybody else must do theirs. If we apprehend people blocking the roads, will the courts allow these people to be charged properly without them being given – not that there is a problem with someone being given Sh500 bail – yet you have burned someone’s property? 

You burn a police vehicle, you burn a court [building] and we are just supposed to move on like nothing happened. A policeman is hit by a stone, chased down the road and it is okay? At some point as a country, we just need to sober up.

After every protest, we see tough statements coming from the Ministry of Interior, the CS or PS or the Inspector General of Police, that “political leaders are behind this”. Who are these politicians behind the criminals during protests?

We have investigative agencies who are doing their bit and it is better to leave it at that.

Are you aware of a unit, whether within or outside the police, that is doing political bidding for whichever politicians as has been alleged by opposition leaders? 

No.

Then who were those people who fired at a church event in Witima, Othaya?

What happened in Othaya is in public record and if there are cases of people involved, they are being processed.

There are security issues between communities in Meru and Isiolo counties. We also have tension between communities in Kitui and Garissa and recently Marsabit and Wajir counties. Banditry, cattle rustling and killings are recorded every now and then. Are there plans for these hotspots?

We have built capacity to deal with it with the multi-agency framework and local communities. Look at Garissa-Kitui and what is happening in Wajir-Marsabit, there is a bigger question around society, there is competition for resources which are largely climate-induced.

Read: Goons seize fuel protests, harass motorists and commuters in Kitengela

We have also had incidents between Migori-Narok on pastoralists seeking pasture and we also have issues on boundaries. I would look at them in a much bigger context of some of the security challenges we deal with as a ministry and administration. 

We have a section of police doing a very good job, but in the same Police Service, we see those who refuse to adhere to the law. How do we harmonise these two sides?

Part of our security reforms address these issues. We are retraining officers, ensuring they are better equipped with modern technology as well as their situational awareness when dealing with protestors. Some of them are issues on the welfare of officers, promotion and even recruitment.

In the last recruitment, the bulk were constables but we also had those with specialised skills joining the Service. These are the cadets and out of the 10,000 recently recruited, they are about 10 per cent. We have made a request for an additional three or four thousand recruits in the new financial year and the budget process in Parliament is still going on. 

On the recent recruitment exercise, there was a concern about some of them being kicked out, including ladies who got pregnant, what really happened?

The whole training process has its Standard Operating Procedures. In any training, you go to school, there are exams you go through and move to the next level and I know the Service has the competency to tell who goes to what level and who gets to finish and not everybody who starts a training gets to the finish line. 

We recently heard a Kenyan saying that police officers live in tins “mkebe”. What are we doing to alleviate this kind of humiliation?

These people who are staying in “mkebes” (tins) are our brothers, sisters, uncles, fathers and mothers and they deserve the best like the rest of us. So far, we have done 5,000 housing units and another 23,000 in the pipeline just to give these officers dignity. We have increased their salaries by up to 40 per cent. 

We have invested a lot in capacity building, not just for police officers but also National Government Administration Officers (NGAOs). We had DCCs and ACCs who had stagnated for more than eight years on account of not having undertaken the necessary training, the President pushed and we got support from Parliament and we trained them and they got promoted. Last December we graduated close to 8,000 chiefs and assistant chiefs who had worked for more than five years without training to give service to citizens. 

How do we protect NGAOs from being used in playing partisan politics during elections as we have seen in previous regimes?

The President has been very clear; NGAO officers have their role clearly defined, separate from politics, and have a solemn responsibility to serve Kenyans impartially.

Do we have foreign forces on our soil? 

We do not have foreign forces; if we have, there are requisite documents that support that, courtesy of the different diplomatic arrangements.

Do we have any agreement with the Jubbaland Forces? If there is evidence of Jubbaland Forces in any part of the country, are you putting it to us that there is an arrangement we have with them?

If there are, arrangements have been made to have them here.

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