The Kenyan State is grappling with a resurgence of criminal gangs (goons) ahead of the scheduled August 2027 elections. Last Sunday, a group of young men armed with bows, arrows and machetes reportedly disrupted a service at Saint Stephen Anglican Church in Kisumu to eject Linda Mwananchi leaders, James Orengo and Edwin Sifuna.
The service was being conducted by the Bishop of Maseno South Diocese, Reverend Charles Ong’injo, who has in recent months become a fierce government critic. Goonism in Kenya is not a recent phenomenon.
It has its origins in the run-up to independence (1961-1963) when “youth-wingers” of the dominant political parties at the time, Kanu and Kadu, routinely engaged in violent clashes for territorial dominance. A more recent history of goonism in Kenya dates back to the early 1990s, when multiparty politics was re-introduced after more than two decades of Kanu’s single party political dominance. Faced with the new dispensation, and the real fear of losing the 1992 elections, Kanu elites established State-sponsored youth organisations to preserve political power through raw intimidation of opponents. The now-infamous Youth for Kanu ‘92 (YK’92) was created ostensibly as a viable above-board political strategy to support Kanu’s re-election.
In reality, however, it was an informal repression tool that aggressively disrupted opposition campaigns, bribed voters and orchestrated land clashes of unprecedented proportions in independent Kenya, especially along the Rift Valley/Central and Rift Valley/Nyanza borders. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, various opposition factions sought to protect their turfs against Kanu onslaught by creating localised defence militias. This era witnessed the emergence of prominent gang structures like Mungiki (Central), Taliban (Nairobi), Angola Musumbiji (Western), and Chinkororo (Kisii), transforming the hitherto informal groups into permanent complex militarised tribal protection networks.
By transitioning from outsourced political muscles into highly decentralised independent criminal enterprises, goonism gradually assumes a life of its own that becomes uncontrollable by the political and other forces that created them. Our experience with the Kenyan variant of goonism is that it starts with politicians initially providing basic cashflows only during election campaign periods.
To survive during off-peak when there isn’t much political activities taking place, these gangs leverage their numbers and weapons to seize control of economic sectors such as transport (matatu), illegal water/power connections, and land-grabbing rings. Once gangs accumulate sufficient liquidity from crime, they no longer rely on political handouts. They quickly turn tables on their former political masters, creating a sense of indispensability that enables them to start extorting them by forcibly offering to provide security.
If the politicians do not meet their financial demands, the gangs start threatening to back their rivals. Politicians then become beholden to the gangs. It is worse where security agencies are barred by their political bosses from interfering with the gangs during election campaigns, as the police feel terribly intimidated and cannot crack down on them later. This structural impunity enables gangs to expand completely out of the state’s reach. Examples abound across the globe.
Goonism has historically devastated economies, and collapsed democratic institutions. Three examples should suffice. Firstly, in the mid-20th Century Haiti, dictators systematically weaponised the Tonton Macoute militia group to terrorise civilians and bypass the formal military authority. Over subsequent decades, these political gangs fractured, heavily armed themselves and entirely overran the capital, Port-au-Prince, displacing the government, shutting down the main airport, and subjecting the population to mass violence.
Secondly, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, politicians and former military officers originally backed community vigilante groups to fight drug cartels. Today, these mafia-style militias hold large territory, control real estate, routinely murder reformist politicians, and run parallel states that formal Brazilian army struggles to contain.
Thirdly, during the 1970s, Jamaica’s major political parties armed neighbourhood gangs to establish strict, unassailable electoral fiefdoms. These groups eventually morphed into transnational drug cartels, sparking decades of gang wars, driving down tourism, and plunging the nation into some of the highest homicide rates in the Americas.
Goonism in Kenya has reached an alarming level, on the verge of transitioning into highly organised, decentralised networks of politically funded gangs that pose a direct threat to national security ahead of the August 2027 elections. A recent report by the Kofi Annan Foundation on likelihood of election-related violence, places Kenya at position two with 84.1 per cent, below Nigeria, which recorded 90.5 per cent.
The Ministry of Interior and National Administration has reportedly identified, and launched crackdowns against at least 104 decentralised criminal networks operating within the country. The main cause of goonism has been singled out as economic desperation, which makes the youth vulnerable to manipulation by politicians. Political elites typically take advantage of desparate youth and weaponise them against rivals for as little as Sh500 a day. The criminal gangs are most prevalent in informal urban settlements.
Kisumu has dominated violence-related news since the creation of the Orengo/Sifuna-led Linda Mwananchi outfit, which is highly critical of President William Ruto’s leadership. This is not sitting well with the general feeling of the people of Nyanza, majority of whom are reportedly supporting the president. However, to assume that the opposition brigade often comes under violent attacks in Kisumu due to their non-conformist stance on politics is to be extremely simplistic.
Kisumu has generally been very peaceful over the last two years, uncharacteristically avoiding anti-government demonstrations. Many people are therefore, not convinced that the sporadic flare-ups that occur every time opposition members step foot in the lakeside city is necessarily the work of locals. Pundits are urging that given the cunning nature of politicians, proper investigations should be conducted to rule out possible external forces bent on creating a perception of Kisumu as a violent place so as to suppress voter turnout in 2027.
Goonism can be contained with a raft of administrative, legal and policy actions. Firstly, financiers of this vice must be identified and prosecuted. Secondly, the IEBC must enforce Chapter 6 of the constitution (on integrity) by disqualifying politicians who sponsor goons. Thirdly, police independence should be ensured. Fourthly, the Judiciary should fast-track severe court punishment of perpetrators of goonism to deter would-be offenders.
Fifthly, IEBC should enforce strict campaign codes, and compel political parties to commit to non-violent campaigns. Sixthly, and most importantly, the government should address the deep economic desperation among the youth so that they are not easily turned into “guns-for-hire” by politicians who are bent on fighting their turf wars
Prof Ongore is a Public Finance and Corporate Governance Scholar based at the Technical University of [email protected]
As the country embarks on its final stretch to the 2027 elections, it is incumbent upon the government to call politicians to order regarding the proliferation of criminal gangs in the country. The actions of goons often trigger widespread public panic, suppressing voter turnout, thus undermining universal suffrage.
Besides, goons tend to target vulnerable candidates such as women, pushing them out of the race. Furthermore, a violent electoral environment causes doubts in the minds of voters regarding the neutrality of IEBC, potentially eroding institutional trust. Goonism can be contained with a raft of administrative, legal and policy actions. Firstly, financiers of this vice must be identified and prosecuted. Secondly, the IEBC must enforce Chapter 6 of the constitution (on integrity) by disqualifying politicians who sponsor goons. Thirdly, police independence should be ensured, to promote neutral enforcement of the law. Fourthly, the Judiciary should fast-track severe court punishment of perpetrators of goonism, to deter would-be offenders. Fifthly, IEBC should enforce strict campaign codes, and compel political parties to commit to non-violent campaigns. Sixthly, and most importantly, the government should address the deep economic desperation among the youth so that they are not easily turned into “guns-for-hire” by politicians who are bent on fighting their turf wars. In a nutshell, goonism is politicians’ skunk; they should face it squarely and deal with it conclusively. For them to skirt around the issue as many of them do, while looking for easy scape-goats like Interior PS Raymond Omollo or any other senior civil servants, for that matter,, will not solve the problem. Goonism stops at the politicians’ doorsteps. It is their dragon. Let them slay it right there.
Professor Ongore is a Public Finance and Corporate Governance Scholar based at the Technical University of [email protected]
