Nairobi (AFP) – Kenyan politicians are hiring armed thugs for as little as $4 per day, as poverty and ruthless political competition threaten to unleash uncontrollable violence ahead of elections next year.
So-called "goons" are increasingly being hired, dozens or even hundreds at a time, to break up the rallies of political opponents and protesters, and attack civil rights groups -- with police often turning a blind eye.A recent study by Nairobi-based research firm Odipo Dev revealed a goons rate card, ranging from 500 shillings ($4) to work for a local councillor to as much as 1,000 shillings for members of parliament.Marius, 27, one of five goons who agreed to speak with AFP on condition that their names were changed, has been doing the job since he was 17. He lost five teeth in a brawl when a politician paid him to protest the opening of a hospital by a rival.Talking to AFP, he initially insisted: "I'm a goon, and I'm proud to say that."But his bravura weakened as the conversation continued, and he spoke of his lost dream of being a surgeon, thwarted because his family could not afford school fees.Raised by a single mother in Korogocho, one of Nairobi's poorest informal settlements, Marius describes himself as "something like illiterate", and sees few options in a country where 40 percent live below the poverty line."You end up being a goon to at least earn something," he said.Marius has a son he no longer sees, he admitted: "I don't want to expose him to the bad things I do. I don't want him to follow in my shoes."Official collusionPoliticians and police insist they want to stamp out "goonism", but analysts say it is deeply entrenched on all sides.During anti-government protests last year, AFP saw first-hand how hundreds of goons appeared to work directly alongside police to attack demonstrators, later looting and vandalising businesses in central Nairobi.Last month, CCTV footage seen by AFP showed uniformed officers moving alongside an armed gang as they swarmed into the well-known All Saints Church in Nairobi, violently interrupting a civil rights meeting.Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri told AFP that claims the force works alongside goons are "preposterous", suggesting the above incidents involved rogue officers who were now under investigation.
