The National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) has raised concern over the growth of criminal gangs among school-age children, warning of youth radicalisation and witness intimidation.
In its 2025-26 annual report, the council lists “rising school-age criminal gangs, driven by inadequate parental responsibility and witness intimidation” among the challenges facing the justice sector.
It also proposes prevention frameworks against “child marriage and youth gang radicalisation”, supported by community engagement.
The warning comes as the council makes tackling goonism a priority in its five-year Strategic Plan 2026–2030, identifying it as an emerging crime requiring a coordinated response from criminal justice agencies.
Under its objective to strengthen responses to emerging crimes, the council commits to “developing and implementing a coordinated response to goonism”.
The plan proposes research to establish the scale and nature of the problem, including mapping “goonism trends, hotspots, drivers, and emerging patterns”.
The National Crime Research Centre will lead the exercise, working with the NCAJ, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Probation and Aftercare Services and the Kenya Prisons Service.
The target is five research and mapping reports over the plan period, beginning in 2026-27.
The strategy also proposes guidelines and standard operating procedures for handling goonism-related cases, with the National Police Service as the lead agency.
It further targets 10 public awareness campaigns on “the effects of goonism and violence” and 20 youth engagement, mentorship and diversion forums in high-risk areas.
The proposed interventions come against the backdrop of a 2025 NCRC study which mapped 309 criminal gangs across 11 counties. Mombasa recorded the highest number at 73, followed by Nairobi with 56 and Kilifi with 47.
The study found that 82.3 per cent of respondents believed gangs had proliferated in their localities. However, 53.2 per cent said their numbers had declined over the preceding three years, highlighting the distinction between the spread and influence of gangs and growth in their actual numbers.
The report identified political patronage as one of the factors sustaining gangs, finding that some politicians use and finance them for “personal, electoral and business gain”. It called for “identifying, prosecuting and deterrently penalising political leaders who use, finance and protect gang members for political reasons”.
It also found that gangs recruit vulnerable young people through peer influence, financial incentives and promises of protection. Unemployment, poverty and substance abuse were among the factors driving youth involvement.
The NCRC further identified corruption among government and security officials, political interference, weak prosecution and poor coordination among justice agencies as factors allowing gangs to thrive.
These coordination challenges were reflected in a public disagreement during the launch of the NCAJ annual report, when DCI Director Mohammed Amin and Chief Justice Martha Koome differed over how suspected goons should be handled.
Amin criticised the release of suspects on what he termed minimal bail and bond terms, arguing that this undermined deterrence and allowed repeat offenders back onto the streets.
Koome, in turn, urged investigators to pursue the financiers and organisers behind the gangs rather than focusing only on those carrying out attacks. She challenged police to map the networks and identify those sustaining them.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The NCAJ’s warning signals growing concern that criminal gangs are becoming entrenched among school-age children, threatening public safety and the justice system. Its proposed five-year strategy recognises that arrests alone cannot dismantle goonism, prioritising research, youth interventions and inter-agency coordination. However, tackling the menace will require confronting deeper drivers, particularly political patronage, unemployment, corruption and weak prosecution, while holding financiers and organisers accountable rather than targeting foot soldiers alone.
Source: www.the-star.co.ke
