We can all agree that the government must crack down and root out criminal gangs and criminality wherever it raises its ugly head. No rational person would be against such a crackdown or tough measures as long as it is done in accordance with the law.
It was, therefore, not surprising a few weeks ago when Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua ordered security heads to crack down on what he called the resurgence of the outlawed Mungiki sect in central Kenya and sections of Nairobi. The DP claimed that there was a section of this youth claiming to provide security at a fee.
“This is a country of rule of law. We will not allow criminal gangs to click back and destabilise this region. I have issued the county commanders with clear instructions to protect people's businesses and ensure that no business is destabilised by those criminals," he said.
All good and well until you start peeling the onion and seeing the hidden picture of what we have here.
For starters, under what authority did Gachagua order county commissioners to act? Is that not the function of the Cabinet Secretary of Interior or, absent that, the President himself? Did the President delegate this authority to his deputy, and if so, why?
The answers to these questions reveal, in the first instance, what this is all about, and that is the politics of 2027 in general, and Mt Kenya politics specifically. There is no doubt that the mood in the region is such that if elections were to be held today, UDA would not harvest even half of what it did in 2022.
A big junk of that vote is the youth vote. There is anecdotal evidence the youth who did not participate in the 2022 election will vote nearly as big as they will in 2027. In other words, the youth vote is the sleeping giant in Kenyan elections come 2027.
In October 2023, while speaking to the Star, politician Maina Njenga announced there would be a major event to unveil the new Mt Kenya kingpin on December 31.
Njenga disclosed that the event will be a mega one for the Mt Kenya region and will herald a new beginning. According to Njenga, the event was to be held in Nyeri county and was to be graced by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
That announcement drew a swift response from Gachagua, who said there would be no such event, and surely enough, the government banned the rally.
On Sunday, police arrested more than 250 young people in Nyeri town, after the police blocked the planned meeting by Njenga.
A video clip was later shared on social media showing the arrested youth cramped in a hall under conditions that can only be termed as unacceptable, especially given none of the arrested were charged with any offence.
The DP would have us believe this is a necessary crackdown to prevent the reemergence of the outlawed Mungiki but the money is on the government weary and deeply concerned if the youth in Kenya are organised—let alone the youth of Mt Kenya, their force and wrath will be felt by those who have ignored or let them down.
This is what is at the core of this purported crackdown against organising Mt Kenya youth. Again, if the government has any evidence of the youth being organised to commit crimes, no one would question the suspects from being arrested and charged.
Correction: one can question why the government would be so eager to arrest these youth while those who have committed even more impactful and egregious economic crimes are freely roaming the streets with impunity.
It cannot be an argument that organising the region's youth—or of any part of the country is the re-emergence of the outlawed Mungiki. The youth of Mt Kenya and their wallowing in abject poverty and unemployment did not cease with the outlawing of Mungiki.
The government rightly outlawed Mungiki, but it has not provided a solution to what made the organisation attractive to its followers to begin with.
Organising the youth for the next general election is something Gachagua cannot stop, and neither can anyone else.