There was a time when simply mentioning Kayole made many Nairobi residents think of fear. Armed gangs controlled estates, M-Pesa shops were robbed in broad daylight, innocent people lived in constant fear, and even police officers became targets.
At the centre of this violence was the infamous Gaza gang, whose influence spread across several parts of Eastlands.
Young men and teenagers armed with crude weapons terrorised families, extorted businesses, and turned entire neighbourhoods into war zones. The police seemed helpless, and residents had almost given up hope.
Then in 2016, a new police commander arrived at Kayole. His name was Ali Nuno Dubat.
Unlike many before him, he did not begin by making dramatic public promises. He first focused on gathering intelligence, identifying gang leaders, tracking weapon sources, and investigating allegations that criminals were receiving information from within the police service.
He reorganised operations, transferred officers suspected of leaking information, and formed a specialised team to pursue the gang's leadership. Nuno understood that you cannot fight criminals if they already know your every move before you make it.
But Nuno's strategy was not based only on force. In 2017, he offered suspected gang members an opportunity to surrender voluntarily.
During a public event in Nijiru, several young men accepted the offer and publicly renounced crime. Many were teenagers, and some parents watched with relief as their children chose another path.
In June 2015, he successfully negotiated the surrender of over 60 gang members. It was a moment of hope in a community that had known little but fear.
Not everyone accepted the offer. Violence continued, including attacks on police officers. Security operations intensified, combining intelligence, surveillance, informants, and coordinated police action. Over time, many suspected gang members surrendered, others were arrested, and many fled the area.
Supporters say these operations helped weaken the Gaza gang's grip on Kayole. By the end of his eighth month in Kayole, the Gaza gang had been pushed out to Kiambu, their networks dismantled, and their daring bravado broken.
The campaign, however, also attracted criticism. Human rights organisations raised concerns over reports of alleged extrajudicial killings and anonymous social media accounts that published names and photographs of suspected gang members before some were later reported dead.
No official link between those accounts and police operations was publicly confirmed, but the allegations fuelled a national debate about policing, accountability, and due process.
After Kayole, Nuno was posted to Kiambu, where he confronted criminal groups operating in Kandutu, Thika.
He issued several ultimatums to criminal elements hiding within the settlement, warning that the slum would no longer be a safe haven for illegal activities.
His message to criminals was blunt and direct. When thugs robbed a police officer of his gun, Nuno warned them publicly: return the firearm or he would come for it, and if he came for it, there would be a cost to be paid, even if it meant losing lives. "I am not a new man in this game," he reminded them. "I was the OCPD Kayole, wapi Gaza? (Where is Gaza?)".
Later, he served in Murang'a, where he oversaw the peaceful conduct of the Kandara by-elections in January 2023. Then he moved to Kwale as County Police Commander, where he focused on counter-terrorism and dismantling local criminal networks.
He briefly served as Director of Corporate Communications at the National Police Service Headquarters in early 2024 before returning to field command.
Eventually, he became the Coast Regional Police Commander, leading operations against violent gangs and drug trafficking networks.
In March 2025, he led a major drug-trafficking crackdown in Kilifi, arresting 13 suspects and seizing various narcotics. His policing style continued to generate both praise and criticism.
Some communities credited him with restoring security in areas long troubled by violent crime. Others questioned whether some tactics used during anti-crime operations fully respected constitutional rights.
The debate reached a fever pitch in February 2026 when Nuno issued a shoot-to-kill directive targeting the "Panga Boys" and other machete-wielding gangs terrorising residents in Mombasa, Kilifi, and Kwale.
"If I find you carrying a machete intending to attack someone, I will shoot you," Nuno told journalists. He gave criminals two options: "desist and accept salvation, or move out of the entire coastal region".
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) condemned the directive, terming it unconstitutional and a threat to the rule of law. "A shoot-to-kill order is a violation of the Constitution of Kenya," said KNCHR chairperson Claris Ogangah.
"Summary executions are a hallmark of lawless states and have no place in a modern democracy like Kenya". The commission warned that such orders could lead to the profiling of innocent Kenyans, particularly youths in informal settlements, potentially resulting in extrajudicial executions.
But Nuno also found defenders. Malindi Member of Parliament Amina Laura Mnyazi supported his tough stance, arguing that the gangs have terrorised residents for years, maiming and killing innocent people with machetes.
"Where were they when people were being killed and hacked with machetes?" she asked of human rights activists. "Let the police do their job".
What makes Nuno different from many other police commanders is his hands-on approach. He is known for "leadership by surprise," often testing his own officers' integrity through undercover operations.
He sometimes visits police stations pretending to be an ordinary citizen just to see how officers treat the public. He is not the kind of commander who sits in an office giving orders from a distance.
He goes to the ground, talks to communities, warns criminals directly, and encourages young people to reform.
One thing, however, is difficult to dispute. For more than three decades, Ali Nuno Dubat has repeatedly been deployed to some of Kenya's most challenging security assignments.
Wherever he has served, his arrival has been followed by major security operations and by intense public debate. Whether history remembers him primarily as a tough crime fighter or as one of Kenya's most controversial police commanders remains a question that continues to be discussed.
The question that lingers is bigger than one man. Can a country defeat violent gangs while fully protecting constitutional rights, or is finding that balance the greatest challenge of modern policing? In Kenya, as in many other nations, the answer remains elusive.
What is clear is that the debate over Ali Nuno Dubat is really a debate about what kind of country Kenyans want to live in one where security comes at any cost, or one where the rule of law and human dignity are never compromised, even in the face of grave danger.
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