Women’s hidden hand in Kenya’s political goons networks Gender 15 min ago

As one of the neighbourhood's self-described “gurus” – local recruiters approached by politicians and business people to assemble young people for political assignments – he says women have become part of a machinery that thrives on poverty, loyalty and survival.

The report, Goonland: Looking Beyond the Money and Violence in the Political Exploitation of Young Men, by OdipoDev, argues that political goonism in Kenya is not an informal collection of unemployed youths but a structured enterprise operating through recruiters, couriers, neighbourhood leaders and political handlers.

She says a fellow woman approached her and asked her to mobilise young men for a political assignment, but she declined, fearing she could be attacked or arrested.