Inspector of Police says paid goons and criminal gangs will be dealt with ahead of 2027 general election

The inspector of national police service Douglas Kanja has warned that the police will not tolerate paid goons and criminal gangs across the country ahead of the 2027 general election.

Kanja said that the police service is working out to ensure criminal gangs are dealt with decisively as Kenyans raise concerns over the increase of paid goons used to settle scores.

Speaking at the Matuga School of Government where he met senior criminal investigations officials, Kanja said that they are not going to ensure that criminal gangs and goods are done away with.

He assured Kenyans that the Kenya police Service is committed to ensuring that the 2027 general election is conducted in an environment that is peaceful for citizens.

The IG meeting with DCI senior officers in Kwale discussed financial money laundering and counter terrorism finance matters among others.

The Kwale senior DCI meeting, he said, discussed also among other issues 2027 general election preparations.

He said that DCI is very critical to ensure there is a good environment for Kenyans to exercise their constitutional right of election.

Already, he noted that 10,000 police officers recruited are undergoing training at Kiganjo police training with capacity building of senior and junior officers going on across the country.

On matters of supporting the police, he said that the salary increment which is set to begin in July 2026 is a step towards addressing police welfare in the country.

“Such government efforts are a way of giving morale to our officers with housing programs taking shape. We want that effort to be doubled to have police officers accommodated,” he noted.

With Kenya having been added to the financial action tax force grey list in February 2024 due to its strategic deficiency in combating money laundering and terrorisms financing Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Ibrahim Amin said they are doing a lot to get out of the grey listing.

“What we are doing at the moment is capacity building of our investigators and the government has allocated sufficient resources for the same. We are targeting the senior leadership as we head to their juniors’ ranks,” he noted.