Kenya and Uganda may be different polities, but the two countries appear joined at the hip when it comes to political violence.
In Kenya today, goons have become commonplace. They storm venues without warning; ferocious youths armed with crude weapons descending on political rallies, funerals or church services attended by rival leaders. Injuries are inflicted, valuables stolen and events disrupted.
Authorities have struggled to rein them in. One accusation is that they are hired thugs working at the behest of those in power, a charge the Interior Ministry denies.
Goons approach Nation Media Group crew in Ruiru on May 18, 2026 during the matatu strike.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
On July 16, during a tense Ol Kalau Constituency by‑election in Nyandarua County, armed men arrived in high‑end cars, intimidating locals. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen promised investigations but rejected claims they were acting as government proxies.
Uganda has long relied on hired youth to torment opponents. From 2013, bulky young men began appearing at events, later dubbed “crime preventers”. Within two years, they were branded “government militia”. Then Inspector-General Kale Kayihura defended them as volunteers supporting law and order.
“Crime preventers are not a militia. They are volunteers helping the police to prevent crime,” he said in 2016.
Kayihura was later dismissed over mounting insecurity and sanctioned by the US for human rights violations. The crime preventers, however, did not disappear. They evolved into a force beyond community policing, intimidating the public and interfering with political events. Though the ruling National Resistance Movement disowned them, they effectively acted as its youth wing.
Human Rights Watch said the group was serving political rather than community duties. “Crime preventers were never about community policing. They became a tool for political mobilisation, harassment and silencing dissent.”
By 2018, authorities acknowledged the risks. Police pledged to train and absorb them into formal units, but political violence persisted, visible during campaigns for the January 2026 elections when rallies were disrupted and journalists beaten up.
Kenya has faced similar scenes. On June 17, 2025, protests over the death in custody of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang turned chaotic as armed goons marauded through Nairobi. Some were photographed alongside police officers.
Goons attack the Linda Mwananchi brigade in Keumbu, Kisii County in Kenya on July 3, 2026.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Youth advocate Philip Ngotiek wrote in the Nation that “by deploying goons to spark unrest, the lines between criminality and authority were blurred. It is a tactic of control: make the protest appear violent, then the State can claim legitimacy in suppression.”
Police commanders denied collusion, insisting that investigations would reveal who hired the attackers. Yet memories linger of the anti‑Finance Bill protests of June 2024, infiltrated by goons who activists said were deployed to discredit demonstrators.
Similar violence erupted in Kitengela in May 2026 during fuel price protests, and at commemorations of the July 7 democracy movement in both 2025 and 2026 in various parts of the country. Goons have struck at church services attended by politicians, including former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, and even disrupted a budget scrutiny session at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.
Their reach has extended to hospitals, schools and sports events. In Kisii, health workers were attacked during a strike in 2023, while national school games in 2024 were thrown into chaos.
The Church has been among the most vocal critics. On July 14, 2026, the National Council of Churches of Kenya warned that politically linked violence posed a grave danger.
“We are seeing a degrading approach by our political actors, organising goons and even taking them into places of worship. This is not limited to one side. We have seen it from both government and opposition, and we condemn it in the strongest terms,” said Chairman Elias Otieno Agola.
His remarks followed an attack in Kisumu two days earlier, when opposition leaders Edwin Sifuna and James Orengo were targeted during church service.
