‘Goons in black’ well known in party circles

A gang of about 100 men wearing black suits who disrupted the ODM polls on Friday at the Kasarani stadium operated an organised chain of command and took charge of key entry points, leaving the police at the periphery.

Kasarani Officer Commanding Police Division Augustine Nthumbi told Sunday Nation that preliminary investigations indicate the disruption was pre-arranged with the full knowledge of some party officials.

Mr Nthumbi said that earlier at the gathering an official called the smartly dressed men — some of whom our sources identified as members of a city-based gang — to step forward and take charge of security around the voting area at the centre of the Safaricom Kasarani Gymnasium. But police were shocked a few hours later when the same men violently destroyed ballot boxes and tore up ballots.

“We have discovered that the whole scenario was pre-arranged and stage-managed. We did not want to get involved as long as we could contain the violence. The party leadership had full knowledge. Up to now (yesterday) no-one has filed a complaint,” Mr Nthumbi said.

Party executive director Magerer Langat was attacked by some of the goons in the VIP lobby and his phones and valuables were stolen.
“It is very unfortunate this happened. Some of our top officials encouraged the goons to come and even facilitated their entry into the hall,” Mr Magerer said.

He further revealed that one of the men attempted to stab Turkana Governor Josephat Nanok but was repulsed by security officers at the VIP area.

“We realised that about 650 unauthorised people were ferried from Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret, facilitated by some of our leaders. It is both worrying and disappointing,” he said.

Some members of the gang captured on camera are known to have worked alongside security details of some ODM politicians during public rallies and other party events.

The men are said to have travelled to the city from other towns two days before the event. They received instructions from two men: A man said to be a retired soldier, and another burly, bald man. There have also been allegations that a Nairobi politician and his counterpart from western Kenya were involved.

At one point, the burly man was seen directing the youthful group to station themselves in the area  set aside for Coast delegates after they started heckling, following differences over whether to create more party positions as proposed by the National Governing Council.

Two MPs from Nyanza separately called Sunday Nation to help identify the men who they said were well-known individuals. Two of them, the MPs said, were transported to the city by a county government official from Nyanza and were seen on TV smashing ballot boxes.

Just when nominated MP Isaac Mwaura began his loud protest that led to the disruption of the exercise, the “boys” who had formed a ring around the voting area abruptly set upon the voting materials, smashing and tearing up strategic instruments ferried in the hall to support polling.

It was clear their intention was not to harm anybody as they overturned tables and tossed ballot boxes aside.

Mr Mwaura has since denied any association with the goons. “I don’t know those men. I complained because I was going to be rigged out. I was shocked when they started kicking ballot boxes,” he said.

Acts on commands

During political campaigns, the tightly knit group, which is known to be disciplined and only acts on orders, is normally part of an informal advance team to various venues.
Nairobi is said to be their “headquarters” but they also have members in Mombasa, Eldoret and Kisumu.

Most of them are either in informal employment or operate small businesses, and a few are junior civil servants. But Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga said the men in dark suits were individuals ferried in by ODM rivals to disrupt the party event.

“This must have been a militia ferried by rivals to spoil ODM’s big day. They cannot be party supporters or members,” he said.

Our sources say that two weeks ago some members of the gang were accused of being behind an attack on Ugenya MP David Ochieng’ and his Kibra colleague Kenneth Okoth at Orange House. The pair was perceived to be among the party “rebels”.

Last week Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, who wants to be secretary general, told Sunday Nation he preferred a private security company to man the event. It was not to be.