This archive report was first published on 17 November 2019.
On a fateful Friday in Butula, Busia County, six young men hired to provide security at a funeral procession were brutally killed by villagers who questioned their presence in the area.
The incident exposed the dangers of the growing need for private security in Kenya, where organised gangs have taken over the work of the police.
These 'Men in Black' are hired to help solve disputes, control crowds, and even provide security at nightclubs and churches, but their actions have led to tragic consequences.
According to Fred Obera, a Seventh Day Adventist church elder, not all of them are hired to hurt or cause destruction, but some are extremely harmless and are religious, only hired to help maintain law and order.
However, the reality of the killings of the six young men from Ahero township in Nyando, Kisumu County, has left their families in shock, and Nyando MP Jared Okello has called for detailed investigations into the matter.
The history of hired goons in Kenya dates back to the country's political competition, and equal rights campaigners are now asking the police to dismantle these illegal groups being managed by goons.
It is believed that Nairobi and Kisumu have the highest number of 'Men in Black', and the goons-for-hire business is a ticking time bomb in the country, according to Audi Ogada, a former leader of the once dreaded Kisumu Baghdad Boys.
He says the jobless and vulnerable youths are paid between Sh500 and 1,000 to execute very dangerous jobs, and the increasing number of youths being hired to cause trouble and even kill people must worry the Kenya Police Service.
As the Standard reported on November 17, 2019, the brutal killing of the six young men has exposed the dangers in the growing need for private security in Kenya.
