A new and troubling informal economy has quietly taken shape – not built on agriculture, manufacturing, trade or services, but on goon enterprise.
Sadly, this is just about a year to the general elections. Confidently I can share that the groundwork for chaos may already be in motion.
Goonism in Kenya is no longer a criminal fringe activity but a service. A transaction. A job opportunity.
They operate so publicly, freely and with confidence of an entity being protected by those in high positions of power. Hired goons are increasingly being use to intimidate perceived opponents, disrupt meetings and in some cases, settle disputes outside the law.
Once associated with election seasons, they now appear to operate throughout political calendar, suggesting a dangerous normalisation of organised violence.
These groups have become embedded in both political and private transactions. While politicians are often accused of mobilising them during rallies, party meetings and even burials, currently there are glaring indications that private individuals, business interests, and others also hire these merchants of violence for enforcement and intimidation purposes making goon enterprise to thrive.
However, the beauty of using goons is that they are not loyal to only one side: they are loyal to whoever hires them and only for that assignment. Tomorrow your opponent can also hire the same goons to terrorize you.
As they say, he who pays the piper calls the tune. If one is terrorizing people using goons because he/she is either an MCA, MP, Governor or any other personality, it’s also important to know that you won’t be that forever. You will learn that karma is real.
Recently I wrote about misuse of school buses for transporting political supporters to or from a political rally. Few days ago, it’s been reported by mainstream media how a school bus ferrying staff and students was attacked in Western Kenya by goons who mistook student and staff passengers for political supporters from a rally.
They destroyed the bus and injured several students and staff. This attack has raised pertinent questions about how far political mobilization and associated violence have spilled into public life, where even innocent school activities are no longer safe from goons.
As if to deepen the sense of national unease, a separate incident unfolded recently in Nairobi, where a group of youths stormed All Saints Cathedral during an ongoing church service, throwing congregants into panic.
The sanctity of the religious service was broken in minutes with the congregants running for safety. That’s how far violence in this country has been taken: it knows no parliament, schools and now religious spaces. This was not only an attack on individuals but on the moral and spiritual fabric and our collective conscience as a country.
In a functional system, goonism can be brought to an end immediately. The police commissioner and the DCI have a full in-tray in this but will they bite the bullet!
As the country edges closer to a new election season, the fear is not only about campaigns and ballots but about the expanding role of violence in shaping public life. And as long as goon enterprise still pays, we will be under their duress for quite some time.
