Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has dismissed claims that the country is facing a crisis caused by goons and criminal gangs, insisting that the country remains safe.
Murkomen, while speaking in Eldoret on Friday, said those portraying incidents involving goons as evidence of a national security crisis were misleading the public, arguing that the problem was being exaggerated for political purposes.
“Those trying to say this country is in a crisis because of goons are liars,” Murkomen said.
He attributed the concerns to what he described as a failure by some politicians to campaign and engage voters peacefully.
“The crisis in the country is a ‘bankruptcy of ideas of politicians unable to campaign ‘, and they go and ‘sanya’ goons to fight themselves and make it a national crisis,” he said.
The CS maintained that there was no national crisis arising from the reported incidents and assured Kenyans that the country was secure.
“There is no national crisis. Kenya is safe,” he said.
His remarks come amid widespread concerns over the involvement of criminal gangs and goons in political activities in different parts of the country.
Questions have arisen over the use of groups to disrupt political meetings or intimidate political opponents.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat, however, denied claims that police officers were working with or supporting criminal groups.
“There is no collusion by any police officers. We are there to reinforce the laws provided for,” Lagat said while dispelling claims of police collusion with criminal groups.
Lagat said the police service was not partisan and maintained that it had the capacity to deal with incidents involving criminal gangs.
“I don’t believe police are partisan to this. What we know is that it’s possible to deal with this,” he said.
The Deputy Inspector General acknowledged that police had encountered challenges involving goons and criminal gangs, stressing that strategies had been put in place to address the threat.
“I’m aware we have had challenges of goons and criminal gangs. We have put in place strategies that will manage this kind of uncalled-for insecurity situations as a result of goons,” Lagat said.
He also called for cooperation between the police and other sections of society to prevent criminal groups from taking advantage of political activities.
“This is not an issue of national police alone. It’s an issue of everybody; political and religious class, students, youth to work with police and stop these criminal gangs,” he said.
National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security chairman Gabriel Tongoyo offered a different assessment, saying political actors were largely responsible for the emergence of criminal groups.
“What we are seeing in the country, these gangs and criminal groupings, almost entirely, if not all, are being sponsored by politicians, the man in tie and big offices,” Tongoyo said.
