Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has warned that rising killings linked to gangs on motorbikes have turned the country into a nation living in fear.

The warning comes amid a wider surge in violent crime involving motorbike riding gangs.

 A National Crime Research Centre report found at least 309 active criminal groups operating across 11 counties with Nairobi and Mombasa among the most affected.

 Many of these gangs including Gaza, Wakali Wao and  Mungiki use motorbikes to trail victims, carry out robberies and escape quickly.

In June, mobs of men on motorbikes armed with whips and clubs attacked protesters in Nairobi with witnesses alleging some were hired to disrupt demonstrations.

Police have also linked motorbikes to targeted killings and robberies in counties such as Kiambu where suspects were recently arrested with a pistol and a motorcycle believed to have been used in a violent robbery.

One of the most recent victims was lawyer Kyalo Mbobu who was gunned down on September 9 along Magadi Road in Nairobi as he drove towards his Karen home.

Police said two men on a motorbike trailed him before shooting him eight times at close range striking his head, neck and spine.

 Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor said Mbobu died from severe bleeding and investigators have ruled out robbery describing the killing as a planned attack.

CCTV footage showed the assailants had followed him from his office in the city centre before striking with what detectives called “chilling precision.”

Speaking at PCEA Ruringu Parish in Nyeri on Sunday 14, Gachagua linked Mbobu’s murder to what he described as a collapse in national security.

“Increased cases of killings carried out by criminal groups using motorbikes are causing fear and panic. The murder of lawyer Mbobu is a painful reminder of the impunity these gangs operate with,” said Gachagua.

He urged security agencies to intensify crackdowns on the boda boda sector which he noted has been exploited to trail and attack victims.

“Recently you saw a lawyer, my neighbour in Karen, was shot eight times by professional killers,” noted Gachagua.

“If you look at the way he was killed you can tell that was not an ordinary attack. They shot him in the head to eliminate him. People are now scared in this country; you don’t know who has been paid to assassinate you,” he added.

Gachagua said motorbikes have become a tool of terror with residents shivering when one follows their car.

He added that knife wielding gangs now roam Nairobi and other towns in daylight, a resurgence he attributed to their use in politics before being abandoned without livelihoods.

“There is no security in the country because these gangs were used to do politics. When politics are over, they turn to crime to survive. These gangs will be dismantled and security restored,” noted Gachagua.

He criticised directives by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and President William Ruto to “shoot to kill” and “shoot in the leg” respectively, pledging to rescind them if elected president.

“I will ensure there are no abductions and extra judicial killings. We want to restore security so that Nairobians and people in major towns live without fear,” said Gachagua.

Framing security as the centre of his presidential bid, Gachagua said he would not promise major infrastructure projects due to the country’s Sh12 trillion debt.

“I only want to restore the Kenyan state to where Mwai Kibaki left us, restore working health systems, sustain free primary education and ensure students are funded up to university,” he observed.