Former Mukurwe-ini Member of Parliament Kabando Wa Kabando has renewed calls for a total ban on gambling in Kenya, warning that the vice continues to devastate young people across the country.

In a detailed post on X dated December 21, 2025, Kabando reflected on his long-running campaign against betting, drawing parallels between the situation he confronted in government more than a decade ago and the current crisis.

“Rich parents are crying as peasants are weeping, as their hopes for their offspring to rehabilitate, to redeem, to inherit them, and to spur their lineage are demolished by a gluttonous gambling culture. Senior politicians are enlisted to deodorise invalid, unholy livelihood pursuits; it should come to an end,” read Kabando’s X post in part.

He said that during his tenure as Assistant Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, he received numerous petitions from concerned citizens urging the government to rein in rogue betting firms that were preying on young people.

Intervention and political fallout

Kabando recounted a specific incident that intensified his resolve to act, involving a message he received from his former boss, originally shared on Facebook. Disregarding bureaucratic protocol, he said he wrote directly to the then Vice President, who was also serving as Minister for Home Affairs and overseeing betting firms. “He acted before sunset. I was over the moon, buoyant,” Kabando recalled.

However, the intervention came with heavy personal and political consequences.

“Little did I know that some of my friends were involved in the questionable gambling episodes. And that earned me irreparable political enmity. They sent emissaries to warn me. I told off the messengers and faced toxic, obnoxious hostilities. Suddenly, persons I had treasured as true comrades became irreplaceable foes, to date. I lost dear, genuine friendships because of a policy question.”

He said a discreet independent audit later exposed widespread illicit activities within the gambling sector, reinforcing concerns he had raised while in office.

Criticism of current leadership

Kabando noted that in the 2013 and 2017 elections, controversial gambling moguls invested heavily in politics, a trend he believes has entrenched the industry’s influence. He accused the current administration of failing to confront the problem, stating, “Ruto has just sustained the garbage that has been the gambling evil.”

Calling gambling in Kenya “evidently a bandit business”, Kabando challenged opposition leaders to take a firm stand, adding that the issue remains a national emergency requiring decisive political action to protect future generations.