By Ongaga Ongaga
Kisumu Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o has issued a stern warning to individuals financing youth violence after deadly clashes in the Milimani area left two young men dead and caused extensive destruction of property.
In a statement issued after a joint security meeting with Kisumu County Commissioner Mohammed Ramadhan Mwabudzo, Nyong’o said authorities had already arrested eight suspects linked to the violence and launched the judicial process against them.
Also Read
The clashes, which occurred on Sunday, saw two organised groups of youths confront each other in Milimani, a usually quiet and affluent neighbourhood in Kisumu City.
The violence resulted in the destruction of a motor vehicle and at least nine motorcycles, disrupting businesses and residents’ daily activities.
“Yesterday, in the Milimani area, we witnessed a scene that has no place in our county: two organised groups of youth set against each other, resulting in the deaths of two young men,” Nyong’o said.
The governor revealed that security agencies had intensified operations against criminal gangs across the county, noting that 200 suspects had been apprehended since the county’s last security briefing.
“Since our last briefing to the media on security, two hundred suspects have been apprehended across Kisumu County and investigations into their involvement in criminal activities are ongoing,” he said, adding that those found culpable would be arraigned in court.
The latest violence comes amid growing national concern over the recruitment of young people into organised gangs and politically linked violence. In recent months, leaders, civil society organisations and religious groups have repeatedly raised alarm over the use of youths as hired goons during protests, political activities and criminal operations in several parts of the country.
Nyong’o lamented that while county leaders were working to attract investment and create employment opportunities, some young people were allowing themselves to be manipulated into violence.
“We spend our nights negotiating with investors, creating the conditions for employment and enterprise, yet some among our youth allow themselves to be bought for a pittance to burn, intimidate, and destroy the very future we are trying to construct for them,” he said.
The governor reserved some of his strongest words for those allegedly financing the unrest.
“To those who finance and orchestrate this violence: you are not invisible,” he said. “He who rides a tiger eventually discovers that the greatest danger lies not in mounting it but in trying to dismount. Your time is coming.”
He urged young people to reject criminal activities and embrace lawful means of earning a living.
“The path of a hired thug leads nowhere, but the path of lawful work, of patience, of building something durable secures a future,” Nyong’o said.
The governor reaffirmed the county administration’s commitment to maintaining law and order, declaring that Kisumu would remain “a county where business thrives, where mothers walk to market without fear, and where public order is not a favour we request but a condition we enforce.”
