President Ruto, police blamed for protest violence - TIFA survey

The report says that 42% of the respondents linked protest-related violence to the Head of State and the national government, while 24% linked the national police to the vice.

Likewise, 12% of the respondents blamed political leaders, 9% fingered protesters and 6% (jobless youth/Gen-Z).

TIFA says the finding places primary accountability on the State, a claim it has repeatedly denied.

Meanwhile, 82% of the respondents support peaceful and lawful demonstrations, affirming protests as a legitimate form of public expression. 

The government has been linked to a nationwide goon wave since 2024, when Kenyans, mostly youths, took to the streets to demand good governance.

Kenyan politicians have been accused of hiring armed thugs for as little as Ksh.500 per day to break up the rallies of political opponents and protesters and attack civil rights groups, as police often turn a blind eye.

A recent study by Nairobi-based research firm Odipo Dev revealed that a goons' rate card ranges from Ksh.500 to Ksh.1,000 for Members of Parliament.

One of the confessions was recorded after an attack at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi in June 2026, where a group of rowdy youth invaded a meeting associated with opposition figure Rigathi Gachagua.

According to the youth, who spoke to Citizen TV, plain-clothes police officers embedded within the group assumed operational command, directing the men on how to move and where to position themselves.

He described how the job was pitched as a Ksh.2,000 assignment per person, with each man instructed to source a motorcycle and ride in pairs.

Likewise, young men armed with clubs were seen working alongside police officers to "protect businesses" against violent protesters. They later claimed to have worked for the county governor, Johnson Sakaja, after a video surfaced of them shouting "tumekulindia jiji (we have protected the city for you)" while passing outside City Hall.

The government denied its hand in the dirty job.

Meanwhile, President Ruto has asked the National Police Service to step up efforts to tackle the goons' menace ravaging the country by not only arresting those hired to cause violence but also going after their financiers.