Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has pushed back against growing claims of a goon problem in Kenya, saying the country is not facing a national security crisis and blaming politicians for turning clashes involving gangs into a wider political issue.
Murkomen spoke as the National Police Service (NPS) sought to distance its officers from accusations of supporting or shielding criminal groups that have been blamed for disrupting opposition political meetings.
The debate came into focus on Friday when Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat visited Nyeri to inspect preparations for next week’s pass-out parade at the Kiganjo Police Training College, where more than 6,000 officers are expected to graduate.
Lagat said the police had not seen evidence proving that its officers were involved in the disruption of political gatherings.
“There is no complicity by security officers. We are there to enforce the laws that are provided for, and I don't believe the police are partisan to this. What we know is that it is possible to deal with this," Lagat stated.
The Deputy Inspector General said police officers would continue enforcing the law without taking sides in political disagreements.
His statement follows months of accusations from opposition leaders, who have repeatedly claimed that the NPS has allowed goons and criminal gangs to interfere with their meetings.
Lagat said the police leadership was aware of the security concerns linked to criminal groups and had already put measures in place to deal with them.
He also pointed to the expected graduation and deployment of about 10,000 officers from different training institutions this month, saying their addition would give the police more capacity to respond to security problems.
“You will see how we are going to deploy them to help reduce the security challenges we have had before. I am aware that we have had challenges of goons and criminal gangs, and we have put in place strategies that will manage this kind of nonsense, this kind of uncalled-for insecurity as a result of goons,” Lagat noted.
According to Lagat, the additional officers would be deployed to areas where their presence could help reduce security challenges that have been reported in the past.
At the same time, Murkomen rejected the suggestion that the incidents involving goons had reached a level that should be treated as a national crisis.
Speaking in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County, the Interior Cabinet Secretary accused politicians of exaggerating the issue and said some leaders were using goons to fight their political battles.
“Those who are trying to say that this country is in a crisis because of goons are liars. The crisis in this country is the bankruptcy of ideas by politicians who are unable to campaign, and they go and send goons to fight themselves and then want to make it a national crisis. There is no national crisis. Kenya is safe,” Murkomen stated.
However, the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security took a different position, saying the country does have a problem with gangs and goons.
The committee accompanied Lagat during his visit to Kiganjo and said political leaders were behind the financing and mobilisation of many of the groups blamed for causing disorder.
Committee chairman Gabriel Tongoyo said the responsibility for dealing with the gangs should not be placed entirely on the police.
“What you are seeing in the country, these gangs and criminal groupings, almost entirely, if not all, are being sponsored by politicians, the men in ties, men in big offices," the Committee chairman Gabriel Tongoyo, stated.
Tongoyo called for wider involvement from different sections of society, saying the fight against criminal gangs required cooperation between the police and the public.
“This is not an issue of the National Police Service alone. It is an issue for everybody: the political class, the religious class, the students and the youth. We all have to work with the police and stop these criminal gangs,” he added.
The committee said the officers preparing to join the service had received the training needed to handle new forms of crime.
It also expressed confidence that the new officers would help strengthen security as the country moves closer to next year’s General Election.