Homa Bay is a small town on the shores of Lake Victoria. Imagine a goon leader summoning hundreds of thugs to a dusty open ground behind the shops, barking orders at them on their assignment the next day, and arming each of the men with a panga.
Imagine police and intelligence in the town have no idea of what is going on. Yet, for days, prominent local politicians have been warning an opposition group against holding a rally in the town and issuing dire threats.
On the material day, Homa Bay residents wake up in a war zone: road blockades, frenzied attacks on suspected opposition sympathisers, looting of business premises and the burning of vehicles.
After the dust settles, two people are dead, scores injured, and property destroyed. Burnt shells of vehicles smoulder in the waning evening sun.
Media workers – at least 10 – especially bear the brunt of the violence. “Francis Mwangi and Evans Okeyo (Mediamax Network Limited) were badly injured and their car burnt; Sammy Omingo and Rodgers Otiso (Standard Group) were physically assaulted; Frank Ooko and Brian Ongoro (Agence France Presse) were attacked and their cameras destroyed; Ken Odiwuor (KBC Mayienga) was beaten and his equipment stolen; while Kevin Fraji (Citizen TV) and his driver were assaulted and their car destroyed,” the Media Council of Kenya reported.
The Daily Nation’s Dominic Ombok summed up his terrifying experience thus: “I have covered several political functions marred by goonism, but I would not wish to find myself [again] in the situation I encountered on Sunday as Linda Mwananchi toured Homa Bay.”
That, certainly, is one of the objectives of the wave of political violence that has now hit crisis levels in Kenya. The masterminds want to scare off the media, so that they can safely commit atrocities off the record.
“An intelligence report indicates that at least 500 youths were mobilised to barricade roads and prevent members of Linda Mwananchi from accessing Homa Bay town last Sunday,” the Daily Nation reported on August 21.
“The report is based on intelligence gathered after police recovered about 500 machetes and other crude weapons allegedly distributed to youths who took part in the violence. Directorate of Criminal Investigations county commander Jimmy Kisobo said some of the weapons were distributed at least a day before the August 16 rally.”
Is this the national security system Kenyans are counting on for their safety as the country heads to a highly divisive, emotive and likely violent General Election next year?
How can anyone distribute 500 pangas to thugs in a small town without knowledge of the police and intelligence services? How could such a large number of weapons be bought and transported secretly? Or did police assume the pangas were for cutting grass around Homa Bay town?
Police cannot deny knowledge of the goons and their sponsors. “They are well known, loud, seemingly untouchable and unapologetic. Their language is one of fear and violence against anyone opposing the push for President William Ruto’s reelection and that of senior ODM politicians bankrolling their activities,” The Standard reported on August 19.
The newspaper reviewed several video clips showing some of the alleged masterminds addressing political events attended by senior party leaders and a government official. Police sources told The Standard “the ringleaders are enjoying protection from senior government officials.”
The People Daily directly linked the chaos in Homa Bay to the “state’s anxiety” over Linda Mananchi, “a movement that is threatening the status quo and redrawing the battle lines for the 2027 polls.”
The Star did not mince its words. “We are sleepwalking towards a political bloodbath, and the most dreadful part is how police watch as violence is elevated to an art,” the paper said on August 19.
President William Ruto has repeatedly vowed to crush the goons, but the violence is escalating. Attacks have been reported in Nairobi, Ol Kalou, Homa Bay, Nakuru, Nyeri, Kisii and other parts of the country. The MCK says at least 18 journalists have been attacked in two months.
The opposition and civil society organisations have appealed to the International Criminal Court to take note of the worsening situation in Kenya with a view to indicting powerful individuals believed to bear the greatest responsibility for the violence.
Kenya’s security services are either unwilling or unable to stop the slide to anarchy. Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen has said there are more than 100 criminal gangs in the country.
If the government can count the gangs, it surely must know where and how they operate and who bankrolls them.
Kenya’s security services have the capacity to crush the gangs and their lords. The country’s police officers were dispatched to Haiti to quell more dangerous and sophisticated street gangs.
Our security forces neutralized al Shabaab, a far more vicious, well-organised and resourced enemy than the panga-wielding louts of Homa Bay.
Clearly, the government is not unable to stop the goons. The country is hurtling towards an apocalypse in 2027. The escalating attacks on media personnel are a particularly ominous sign.
See you next week!
