Amnesty chief: Goons were paid as little as Ksh200 to infiltrate peaceful protests
Amnesty International Executive Director Houghton Irungu has claimed that individuals who infiltrated and disrupted the peaceful justice for Ojwang protests on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, were paid a mere Ksh200 to sabotage what had begun as a peaceful demonstration.
Speaking during a discussion on a local TV station on Thursday, June 19, Irungu said the demonstrations, which had started as a peaceful call for justice, were hijacked by paid goons who turned the event violent.
Irungu pointed out that such actions undermine the constitutional right to protest and create confusion among the public and authorities, who can no longer distinguish between peaceful protesters and violent instigators.
According to Amnesty’s findings, boda boda riders were paid around Ksh1000 each, while the pillion passengers received between Ksh200 and Ksh300.
“They started taking stones, as a protester, it does not advance the constitution, what it does is impose the constitution back because people will be looking on the television and we will not be able to tell the difference between a protester and an instigator,” the Amnesty boss stated.
Adding;
“You mentioned that Ksh1000 is paid to goons to invade peaceful demos, from our observation of the Tuesday protests, we are told that the boda boda riders were paid Ksh1000 while the pillions were paid between Ksh200 and Ksh300.”
Irungu explained that an estimated 200 individuals participated in the mayhem, suggesting that the entire operation to cause disruption could have cost up to Ksh500,000. He warned that this amount is all it takes to bring a major city to a standstill and shift public attention from the real issues being raised.
After we looked at the people who were there after we got the analysis, there were about 200 people, so the devastation we saw was that for over 6 hours, the violence was probably funded up to a tune of Ksh500,000. That is what it takes to bring an entire county to a standstill,” Irungu noted.
Chaos
The protests were organised to seek justice for Albert Ojwang’, a teacher and blogger who died in police custody. Demonstrators also demanded the resignation of Police Deputy Inspector-General Eliud Lagat, accusing the police of brutality and extrajudicial killings.
Many of those who turned out were young people determined to speak out against what they saw as an increasing trend of police violence.
But what began as a peaceful march quickly descended into violence. Anti-riot police reportedly began dispersing protesters with tear gas before the procession could even start at Aga Khan Walk.
Despite the early chaos, the protesters managed to regroup and continue their march through the city streets, chanting slogans such as “Justice for Ojwang” and “Stop Police Brutality.”
However, tension mounted as groups of masked men armed with crude weapons, knives, clubs, and stones began appearing in the CBD. Eyewitnesses said the men attacked both demonstrators and passersby.
One video taken on Moi Avenue shows some of the attackers encouraging police officers to assault protesters. On Koinange Street, a suspected goon accused of attempting to rob people was cornered by boda boda riders. A man who claimed the suspect was one of them intervened and whisked him away in a police vehicle, raising further suspicion.
Businesses were also affected as the violence intensified. Some shops, including electronics outlets, were looted as the gangs turned their attention to property destruction. These scenes raised alarm among human rights groups, who believe the goons were deliberately sent to tarnish the protests and shift the narrative from peaceful resistance to public disorder.
