The Cambridge Dictionary defines "goon" as a violent criminal who is paid to hurt or threaten people. It does not define goonism because as we know, an -ism is a set of beliefs. Violent crimes committed for hire are not a set of beliefs; they are actions punishable under law. So it is interesting to see how invested Kenyans are in defining violent crimes-for-hire as a belief system by insisting on calling them "goonism".
There isn't a Kenyan general election since 1992 that was not accompanied by violence. The 1992, 1997 and 2007 general elections were the most violent, but that does not hide the fact that the 2002, 2013, 2017 and 2022 general elections were not violent as well. What is becoming more and more commonplace is that the electoral violence is almost exclusively related to the presidential election. It is rare to hear the supporters of county assembly election candidates waging violent running battles in the streets these days, though the potential is always there.
What is also changing is that presidential election candidates understand the high risks hiring militia has become. In 1992, 1997 and 2007, the violent crimes were committed by gangs armed with what the Kenyan news media describe as "crude weapons". Today, the risks of militia being armed with small arms and light weapons - firearms like sidearm and rifles - no one wants to pay for a violent armed militia that can turn on you after the election when you inevitably fail to keep your end of the bargain. Just think of the violent extra-judicial campaign Mwai Kibaki's government waged against the Mungiki militia after the 2002 general election.
Since at lest June 2024, Kenyan politicians have hired goons to commit acts of violence against their rivals and the supporters of their rivals. In 2025 and 2026, during the 2024 anti-Budget protests and the anniversary of the protests in 2025, armed motorcycle gangs were allegedly hired to violently attack the so-called Gen Z protestors. Some have whispered darkly that 2024, 2025 and 2026 were incubators for different forms of goons-for-hire activities, seeing which ones would keep protestors down without spiralling out of control.
These violent criminal offenders must be distinguished from peaceable demonstrators participating in a public assembly that has turned riotous to quote section 81 of the Penal Code. So far, even the Government admits that the demonstrations are usually peaceable in nature until hired goons infiltrate the assemblies and incite a riot, sometimes against the demonstrators and sometimes against the public and sometimes against institutions of the Government. Who hires the goons remains hotly contested though names of county governors and principal secretaries are consistently associated with the criminal offenders. These allegations are yet to be tested fully during a criminal trial.
We should not be willing to participate in any public discourse that camouflages the violent offences that are being committed against the people participating in legitimate political activities whether those activities are political and election campaign rallies or demonstrations against the Government, Government officials, Government policies or pro-Government political candidates. "Goon" and "goonism" is an attempt to hide the fact that there is at least one person who has hired violent criminal offenders to commit acts of violence against political rivals - and has gotten away with his crimes. If we are to learn any lessons from the crimes committed by armed militia in 1992, 1997 and 2007, it is to describe the offences for what they are - not hide those crimes behind goofy-sounding English.
