Kisii Governor Simba Arati has hit back at Jubilee Party presidential hopeful Fred Matiang’i over claims that his administration’s youth employment programme is being used to mobilise criminal gangs ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Arati dismissed the allegations as an unfair attempt to criminalise thousands of young people who, he said, were simply seeking an honest livelihood through the county’s cleaning and sanitation programme.
Speaking to youth groups undertaking sanitation work in Kisii town on Thursday, the governor appeared to directly respond to remarks by Matiang’i, who on Tuesday accused the county government of harbouring thugs under the programme popularly associated with the “Green Army”.
“There is a person from Kisii purportedly seeking a position for a high office in the land describing youth as militia. Are you thugs?” Arati asked the youths.
The governor said about 24,000 young people recruited under the programme were ordinary, law-abiding residents and should not collectively be branded criminals because of allegations involving individuals.
The Green Army was established as a youth empowerment initiative aimed at cleaning Kisii’s urban areas while providing temporary employment to thousands of unemployed young people.
Youth empowerment and job creation have been among the key pillars of Arati’s administration.
But the programme has increasingly become politically contentious, with allegations emerging that some youths associated with it have harassed traders and engaged in activities beyond their sanitation duties.
The accusations have triggered a wider debate over whether the initiative remains primarily an employment programme or has evolved into a politically influential street force.
At a Jubilee Party press conference on Tuesday, Matiang’i accused the Kisii County Government of running a militia that terrorises residents, placing Arati at the centre of an increasingly bitter political dispute over the Green Army.
Matiang’i questioned why security agencies had not acted against what he described as an organised threat and further alleged that a funded militia was being trained to target political opponents in Kisii and elsewhere.
Arati, however, dismissed the remarks as empty rhetoric and sought to separate the thousands of youths enrolled in the programme from allegations against individuals.
His response appeared calculated to turn the accusation back on his critics by placing the economic struggles and dignity of unemployed young people at the centre of the political confrontation.
The governor’s defence also underscores the growing political significance of the Green Army as the 2027 elections approach.
What began as a county sanitation and youth employment programme is increasingly becoming entangled in the succession battles expected to shape Kisii politics.
For Arati, the programme represents an avenue for youth empowerment and employment. For his opponents, however, allegations surrounding some of its members offer a potentially potent political weapon.
With the 2027 political contest gathering pace, the Green Army is therefore unlikely to remain merely a sanitation programme.
It is fast becoming a test of Arati’s leadership, the credibility of his youth empowerment agenda and his ability to draw a line between legitimate county programmes and allegations of political mobilisation.
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