“If we don’t stop this goon craziness right now, this country will turn into a gang state, a militia state,” said Orina, founder of the ‘Sell Afrika To Afrikans’ initiative, who sat down with fellow pan-Africanist, Sovereign Media’s Ahmed Kaballo, to discuss Kenya’s goonism issue.

Goonism is a political practice that involves hiring goons - informal groups of young men, often masked and armed - to disrupt protests, attack political rivals and intimidate civilians.

While goonism existed during the era of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta, Orina said it became “on steroids” during the 1992 election, when current president William Ruto was a prominent figure in the then-ruling party’s “diabolical” youth wing, which was tsked with hiring goons to interrupt rallies and bribe voters.

“[Ruto] got into politics through dirty mafia type stuff,” Orina said, arguing that goonism has reached new depths during his presidency because Ruto started off with the same “dirty” tactics he learned from his predecessors.

This is why Orina warned that, should goonism spiral out of control, Kenya may go down the path of Sudan - where informal localised militias known as Janjaweed evolved into the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces currently driving the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

“If we get into a stage where goons are starting to carry pistols, it’s over. This country will turn into a gang state, a militia state,” he added.

Despite acknowledging the economic hardships that lead people towards goonism, Orina warned that heavily armed goons could lead Kenya to a “new bottom” where “nothing is happening but wars and k*llings and displacement”.

But while ordinary people will be left to “deal with the shi*t that [politicians] started,” Orina added that the politicians will flee with their families to luxury havens in Dubai, the US or London.

“Don’t listen to these politicians. They have money to take their families outside. You don’t have the money,” Orina said.

“I’m urging Kenyans who are watching this programme today. Please don’t throw away the country,” Orina pleaded.