IPOA commissioner weighs in on Kenya’s growing goonism debate
By Faith Lagat, July 20, 2026Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Commissioner Ken Williams Nyakomita has weighed in on the country’s growing debate on goonism, saying the phenomenon reflects organised criminal networks that have existed for years rather than an entirely new form of crime.
Speaking during a televised interview on Monday, July 20, 2026, Nyakomita, who said he is also a student of criminology, explained that understanding crime requires looking beyond isolated incidents.
“And apart from also being a commissioner, you also understand that I’m also a student of criminology. So I understand actually the background and the nitty-gritty of actually our crime and all our criminal cities or empires that are actually being formed,” he said.
He noted that discussions around crime should not focus solely on public order but also on organised criminal activity.
“Criminalism is not merely a public order challenge,” he said. “But we’ve seen a lot of form in terms of organised criminality and also the agenda setting.”
Questions over the term ‘goonism’
Nyakomita said the term “goonism” lacks a clear definition and questioned whether it describes a new criminal trend or existing outlawed groups operating under a different name.
“But if you look at goonism, ideally, even the definition, it’s a very bad… Definitions are very bad. There’s no good definition of goonism,” he said.
He referred to groups that have previously been banned, including Chinkororo and Mungiki, and questioned whether those now described as goons are part of the same criminal structures.
“And which crime or which group of this oounism that people talk about? Because ideally, we know, we remember like the chinkororo, all those elements, the mungiki, et cetera. Is goonism part of it? Or is goonism a different or a new term that is actually coming on board?”
The commissioner said he believes the term has gained prominence through public discourse rather than through a clear legal or criminological definition.
“I feel that it’s an agenda that is being set by both the elite and also the learned fellow to either try to deface some of the criminal entities that have actually exist and actually that have been either gazetted and also been banned.”
Political mobilisation under scrutiny
Nyakomita also spoke about groups that accompany politicians to public events, saying such gatherings often include people of different age groups rather than only young people.
“You see a group of people following either a politician or a leader. And some are young, some are old. And you can’t say that is a youth or a young entity movement. There are people more than 40 years, 50 years, still running around, following either leaders here and there.”
He contrasted such groups with official security arrangements, noting that organisers can request police officers to provide security during public functions.
“But if one person comes with, let’s say, 50 people who are unknown, perhaps they’re not even locals, so how do you term those particular people?” he posed.
His remarks come amid continued national discussions on the role of organised groups at political events and public demonstrations, with debate continuing over how such groups should be defined and addressed within Kenya’s criminal justice framework.