How goonism, thuggery are thriving as the State watches in silence

The most alarming bit of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s return to Kenya on Thursday was the re-emergence of goons, who had a field day terrorising, robbing and hurting Kenyans.

It is an ugly scene that has been replayed over and over again in recent months, as the Kenya Kwanza and its sympathisers pursue crude methods of stifling dissent.

No one is safe in this goons’ paradise, thriving courtesy of a police service that looks the other way whenever the political class unleash their gangsters.

They attack protesting youth, as well as grieving mothers demanding justice for their slain children.

Opposition politicians are not spared their wrath; with every rally they call, they attract some sort of disruption. Journalists, caught in the crossfire, have suffered injuries and loss of property.

Although mostly procured by government sympathisers, pro-government events are not immune to the goons, who have taken up a life of their own, marching alongside police officers who watch them as they mug their victims.

They do it with the brazenness of a vigilante group that enjoys the backing of the state.

So bold are they that they have previously marched alongside President William Ruto’s convoys during a tour of Nairobi in March, robbing everyone in their wake.

The Kenya Kwanza administration has displayed a liking for goons to silence dissenters, which was borrowed from former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, which used armed thugs to counter opposition protests.

For its actions, it has earned the reprimand of rights groups and foreign partners. The United States Senate is currently reassessing its relationship with Kenya over rights abuses, some of which have involved the procurement of goons.

Such claims are backed by warnings from foreign envoys about such activities to scuttle protests.

It was expected that Gachagua would encounter some disruption in his plan to address gatherings in Nairobi that would have culminated with a rally at the Kamukunji Grounds, with his party on Wednesday warning of the same.

Indeed, goons were deployed along Mombasa Road, where they blocked the road with rocks and boulders, cornering road users whom they would rob and clobber with crude weapons and injure with stones.

Such acts happened despite the heavy presence of police officers, who were placed at strategic points along Mombasa Road, which leads out of the Jomo Kenyatta International Centre and into central Nairobi.

Multiple reports have suggested that they watched as thugs wreaked havoc. However, this reporter witnessed police dispersing the goons as they attacked motorists and pedestrians indiscriminately.

Police fired rounds into the air and tear gas, with some consoling our crew after an ambush by the mobsters, as others cleared the section of the road around Cabanas that the goons had blocked.

“We are creating a gangster country,” warned Saboti Member of Parliament Caleb Amisi. “If we are not careful, we could end up in a situation in which whoever has more guns rules the country.”

On Wednesday, DCP deputy leader Cleophas Malala linked two city lawmakers to plans to attack their supporters who would welcome Gachagua.

He did not produce evidence for his allegations, with Makadara Member of Parliament George Aladwa, one of the MPs Malala had mentioned, denying involvement in such activity.

“I am planning nothing that will bring chaos to the city of Nairobi,” said Aladwa, who challenged Malala to record a statement with the police if he had evidence of such. “We are not involved in their plans. Let them invite their leader. All we want is peace.”

This was not the first time the country was witnessing such scenes. Gachagua is no stranger to them.

On multiple occasions, his rallies have been disrupted by goons. As he launched his Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) last May, thugs linked to a Nairobi lawmaker invaded the party’s offices, forcing security personnel to fire in the air.

A month earlier, goons attacked a congregation at a church where Gachagua and his allies were attending a service.

That followed a similar scene at a funeral in Kiambu, where Gachagua’s vehicle was stoned.

Ahead of the DCP leader’s departure for the United States in June, goons had attacked a convoy of the opposition he leads alongside former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

The opposition has claimed that these attacks were sponsored by the state, allegations President William Ruto’s administration has denied.

With the current environment as charged as it is, there are fears of more toxicity ahead of the looming by-elections across several constituencies in November.

The Mbeere North seat, left vacant by the appointment of Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku into cabinet, is likely to inflame passions, as it will be a supremacy battle between Gachagua and President William Ruto.

“Things could go very wrong in the next election if we do nothing,” said Amisi, who argued that the government should now put an end to the menace. “They have all the instruments to know who these people are.”

Gachagua cut short his US tour, which was meant to last two months, to lead campaigns in several mini polls in which DCP will participate.

Mbeere North is crucial in his quest to test and cement his dominance in Mount Kenya, a vote-rich region that gave Dr Ruto 40 per cent of his vote.

“My thinking is that they are trying to build Gachagua in the hope that he runs for the presidency in 2027, believing they will beat him,” said university lecturer Gitile Naituli, interpreting the attacks as aimed at casting the former DP as a hero.”

Others who have faced the wrath of these goons include youthful protesters as they geared up to mark the first anniversary of the June 25, 2024, protests over a controversial finance bill that sought to raise taxes.

Several politicians had threatened to unleash goons ahead of the protests, staged two months ago.

No action has been taken against these politically correct untouchables, who have openly admitted to planning to deploy goons.

For instance, Tiaty MP  William Kamket threatened to counter protesting youth with a team of thugs.

“If you think the rungu-wielding goons who stormed Nairobi are trouble, come back next week and you’ll know who the Pokot youth are,” Kamket said ahead of the June 25, 2025, commemorative protests.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, whose chairperson, Rev Samuel Kobia, told The Standard last month that his commission had summoned politicians from across the divide over potentially inflammatory remarks, have taken no action.

Last month, goons stormed the Kenya Human Rights Commission’s offices, disrupting an assembly of mothers who lost their children in last year’s protests, gathered there to demand justice.

This culture of intolerance has always been part of Kenya’s politics. Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement has been the most notorious in the deployment of goons, with the 2014 men-in-black scene, through which planned ODM elections were thwarted, sticking out for its ugliness.

However, more concerning are images of police officers marching alongside thugs, and sometimes arming them with crude weapons like clubs.

“Right now, we have politicians feeding them. What happens when they stop? They will look for sustenance elsewhere, and we will see an emergence of gangs,” security analyst George Musamali said in a previous interview, highlighting the Haiti situation in which gangs formerly backed by the government became a law unto themselves.

Indeed, Kenya has witnessed this firsthand, through the Mungiki sect previously facilitated by state functionaries but which later turned on them and on the public.

“The nation loses when the government shows it can unleash criminals on its citizens,” said Prof Naituli. “The government should never get involved in criminality, because that is like outsourcing security. That only delegitimises institutions like the police service.”