Kisumu: Police in Kisumu on Monday morning arrested one suspect and recovered one AK-47 rifle with five rounds of 7.62-millimeter caliber ammunition. Confirming the incident, Kisumu County Police Commander Mr. Hillary Toroitich said police on early morning patrol at Nyamurori market in Agha Khan Area in the Central Business District (CBD) at about 7:00 am heard gunshots near Samaj Patel building and rushed to the scene where they came face to face with a gun-wielding young man.
According to Kenya News Agency, the suspect shot at a police officer who was on patrol in the area and had confronted the suspect who was at the time committing a robbery. On seeing the security officers, the 21-year-old man identified as Kelvin Oduor tried to hide in a super drum but was swiftly arrested by the officers. Toroitich said the suspect had already robbed a watchman at the Samaj Patel building of his phone and other personal effects after tying him with a piece of cloth.
Police have launched a manhunt for two other suspects who are alleged to have disappeared when they saw the police. The suspect will be arraigned in court on Tuesday to answer charges of violent robbery and firearm possession. This incident follows another in which police in Kisumu on Saturday recovered a Jericho pistol stolen from a General Service Unit (GSU) officer during the burial of ODM leader Raila Odinga in Bondo, Siaya County.
Five suspects, including the mother of the main suspect, were arrested and extradited to Siaya to face charges. Police officers from Kasagam Police Station, acting on a tip-off, raided a rental house in Manyatta ‘B’ slums, Mbeme area. The exact figures of illegal firearms in Kenya are not available, but estimates from the early 2020s suggest Kenya has approximately 550,000 to 750,000 illegal firearms in civilian hands, representing the largest number in East Africa.
A 2020 report indicated that out of about 750,000 private firearms in Kenya, only a tiny fraction (around 8,136, or one percent) were registered, meaning 99 percent were held illegally. Kenya holds the most private firearms in East Africa, with higher numbers than Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Most of the firearms are smuggled into the country from neighboring countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, with government initiatives like firearm destruction and security operations working to counter the problem.
Pastoralist communities and residents in areas with sparse government security or high crime rates also acquire weapons for self-defense, and ongoing ethnic clashes have fueled demand for firearms. To this end, Kenya has conducted amnesty programs for voluntary surrender and seized weapons through security operations. Kenya has been facing a significant challenge with illegal firearms, fueled by conflicts and instability in neighboring countries like Somalia and South Sudan, making it a major transit and destination point for illicit arms flowing through porous borders.
The proliferation of these weapons, often small arms and light weapons, contributes to internal conflicts, political violence, cattle raiding, and armed crime, negatively impacting national security and human development. To counter this, Kenya has destroyed thousands of seized weapons and is marking firearms to improve traceability. Addressing this requires tackling corruption, strengthening border control, and managing regional instability.
But these efforts face challenges of corruption, weak border controls, the presence of refugees, political instability, and inadequate policy frameworks. Data shows Kenya has so far destroyed 40,000 illegal firearms in two decades. In June this year, President Ruto led the burning of 6,000 illicit firearms at the National Police Leadership Academy in Ngong, Kajiado County in a firm statement against the proliferation of illicit arms in Kenya.
The firearms were a sum of those recovered between 2022 and 2025, either surrendered voluntarily under amnesty programs or seized during targeted security operations. Earlier, on June 9, 2021, the then-President Uhuru Kenyatta set ablaze 5,144 guns at the Regional Police Traffic Training Centre in Ngong, Kajiado County. A 2016 Police crime report shows violent crimes, which take various forms such as carjacking and criminal attacks, with some turning fatal, are made possible by this proliferation of firearms in the country.