14/07/2026
Kenyan politicians creating goons today are playing with a fire they may never be able to put out, since the country that quietly accepted brutal cleanups after 2007 no longer exists.
Back then, Mungiki was useful during political violence, then John Michuki’s security machinery moved against its members through arrests, disappearances and killings that many Kenyans questioned only after bodies had already appeared in forests and mortuaries.
The ICC cases later showed how political violence can return to haunt its planners, since witnesses, phone records, meetings, transport arrangements and money trails can carry politicians from campaign rallies into international courtrooms.
Today, Kenyans record everything, question every death, trace every vehicle, follow every mobile money trail and demand names, meaning politicians cannot recruit goons now and expect the State to quietly eliminate them later.
Once these gangs become organised, armed, funded and protected, they will not simply disappear when elections end, and any attempt to kill them after using them would create public outrage, evidence trails and fresh international attention.
The real danger is that politicians think they are hiring temporary muscle, yet they may be creating permanent criminal groups that will demand money, territory and protection long after their political usefulness has ended.
Anyone building goon squads today should study Mungiki, Michuki, the 2007 killings and the ICC files, since using violent groups is always easier than removing them without exposing everyone who created them.
