Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit has challenged the government to move beyond empty warnings as the country faces a growing crisis of hired goons and political violence. Speaking at the restoration of St. Nicholas Chapel at All Saints’ Cathedral, which armed men invaded in June, Ole Sapit called on authorities to stop making threats and start delivering real accountability.
He warned that the state has squandered public trust over allegations linking officials to the deployment of these violent groups, noting that hesitation to rein them in carries dire consequences.
“If they want to regain public trust, action must be taken. We were attacked last month; the case is in court. We want to see goons arrested and the identity of those who sent them. This culture must be brought to an end,” he said.
“Who is in charge of law and order, the police or the goons? The culture has heightened; we have seen everything displayed; we even saw what happened to [Albert] Ojwang’, no justice for the family. We have not seen justice, especially for the masterminds.”
The cleric insisted that sponsored violence will never resolve political rivalries and will only push the nation deeper into chaos. While condemning the cathedral attack, he urged vulnerable youths to reject politicians using them as tools for violence and instead use their vote to drive systemic change.
“Culture of goonism will not give us the dreams and desires, with the economic hardships, it will make it harder. We are descending into a state of lawlessness. In Ol Kalou, police were mobilized. The message is that we are securing, what we saw was the opposite. Hooded men were shooting and dispersing residents; no arrests were made,” he said.
Sapit referenced recent chaos during the Ol-Kalou by-election, where hooded men linked to ruling party leaders targeted opposition supporters.
The Archbishop’s public rebuke follows President William Ruto’s directive ordering security agencies to dismantle criminal networks, warning that rising youth violence directly threatens national security and economic stability.
“Now that we have a consensus, our security agencies must do their job within the law, and they must stop criminality. That is how we are going to secure Kenya’s future even as we discuss this future of our nation in the context of what we are saying,” President Ruto said Tuesday.
