Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen says over 100 suspected gangs are operating in the country and are allegedly engaged in serious offences.

Murkomen said the gangs and ‘goons’ allegedly enjoy political influence, with some being used in economic activities that include land-grabbing cases.

The CS told a parliamentary committee that the groups have emerged from street goons to sophisticated and well-organised alleged criminal enterprises operating mainly in urban areas.

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Outside ‘goonism’, the gangs are allegedly engaged in other activities such as drug trafficking, illicit brews, extortion, and land disputes.

He told MPs that alleged actors are working with some of the gangs to invade and occupy properties in areas such as Mavoko, Kitale, Nakuru, Kakamega and Nairobi, often followed by the hiring of squatters to complicate eviction.

At the same time, Murkomen told the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security that 14 suspects who were among the 21 who were involved in the attack on Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi in Kisumu have since fled the country.

He said security agencies are tracing the suspects in coordination with authorities in a neighbouring country and will arrest them as soon as they return to Kenya. He, however, did not divulge information on which country they fled to.

"What happened to the Osotsi issue is that the DCI circulated the pictures. Three of them presented themselves. The rest of the 13 or 14 ran out of the country to the neighbouring country, but the IG and the DCI are on them, working with the authorities in the neighbouring country. And we will arrest all of them eventually. As soon as they step into this country, they will all be arrested, and I hope that will be the first example to show that violence doesn't pay," the CS said.

On public protests, the CS told legislators that some individuals use the incidents after infiltrating the demos to commit crimes, including robbery.

“When we hear public protests, when the Inspector General of Police and the security team hear that there will be a public protest, like it happened in 2024 and 2025, it is no longer a civilised protest. It is actually a mobilisation of gangs, thieves and robbers,” Murkomen said.

He added; “The cases that we saw in Nyandarua, Kiambu, Kikuyu, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Meru, Kitengela, Nairobi and Machakos, the Nairobi metropolitan area and the counties in the central region are now becoming an epicentre of protests that are organised with gangs, with criminals and with robbers, so when you hear protests will happen, you know supermarkets will be targeted, shops are being targeted, and security installations are being targeted.”