Public Spirited Citizen Wanjiru Gikonyo has accused successive Kenyan governments of using police violence and politically linked gangs to suppress dissent and retain political power, warning that stalled police reforms and growing impunity are pushing the country toward normalized insecurity ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Monday, Gikonyo argued that the alleged deployment of masked officers, unmarked vehicles and criminal gangs during political activities reflects deep-rooted failures in policing, accountability and governance rather than isolated incidents.
"This is a situation where you have state-sponsored violence," she said, adding that "successive regimes have deployed police violence to remain in office."
According to Gikonyo, the policing of politics has historically been used to preserve existing power structures, with security agencies allegedly being instrumentalised to intimidate dissenters, protesters and citizens demanding accountability.
"We don't want these masked police, unmarked cars without licence number plates. We don't want young people instrumentalised for violence. We want a Kenya where elections can be peaceful, fair and accountable," she said.
She argued that although the courts have issued judgments intended to strengthen constitutional policing, implementation remains weak because enforcement depends on institutions within the Executive.
"When you have court rulings being ignored, and an Interior Cabinet Secretary saying what we saw as a very violent election was peaceful, that is downplaying the breakdown of law and order," she said.
Gikonyo further claimed that public protests are increasingly being portrayed as sources of violence to justify restrictions on civic space.
"They are using public protest as a pretext to clamp down," she said, adding that opposition campaigns and civic education forums have allegedly been disrupted by politically linked groups.
She traced the problem back decades, saying successive administrations have failed to fully implement police reforms despite repeated reviews.
"What happened to the police reforms? Where did they fail? We've been struggling for police reforms and not able to get them because this is not the first report," she said, referring to the 2023 review led by former Chief Justice David Maraga.
Gikonyo also raised concern over reports of masked security personnel allegedly operating without identification and outside local command structures.
"We are getting more information from social media and the press than we are from our own security agents," she said. "The OCS or commandant of that particular area doesn't know who these people are. This is very scary."
She further cited reports documenting a rise in criminal gangs, arguing that poor community policing, inadequate police funding and youth unemployment have created conditions that allow such groups to thrive.
"The proliferation of gangs is a reality. It is widespread," she said. "We can't have a country where we don't have adequately resourced, independent and able police, and we can't have a country where large sections of the population are left out of the economy. Otherwise violence is going to become the norm."
As Kenya heads toward the next General Election, Gikonyo said the focus should shift from merely preventing election-related violence to addressing the structural weaknesses that undermine democratic accountability.
"We need to change our peace approach to elections and talk about fundamental accountability," she said, warning that without independent policing and stronger oversight institutions, violence risks becoming entrenched in the country's political culture.
The National Taskforce on Police Reforms, chaired by former Chief Justice David Maraga, identified challenges including underfunding, corruption, weak leadership, poor human resource management and institutional weaknesses, recommending wide-ranging legal, administrative and operational reforms to improve accountability, professionalism and officers' welfare