In this 90-minute special, Ross Kemp and his BAFTA winning documentary team travel to Kenya to investigate the Mungiki, an outfit labelled as the most dangerous ‘gang’ in Africa.

A disputed election in December 2007 sparked a spate of violence that left 1,500 dead and over 250,000 as refugees, leaving Kenya, once considered the jewel of Africa, on the brink of civil war. It is widely believed that the Mungiki were responsible for the reign of terror.

Ross comments, “I’ve always liked Africa and I loved Kenya when I was there, but I saw it from a totally different point of view from being a tourist to the way I saw it this time. Kenya has the perception of being a leader in Africa in terms of industry and infrastructure, but actually there’s extreme poverty and unrest there.”

Gaining access to the Mungiki is notoriously difficult, but Ross manages to meet with its top three members at the home of their imprisoned leader, Jenga. Grilling them about a grisly reputation that includes decapitation and torture, he is thrown by their denial. The men are adamant that the fear surrounding the Mungiki has been propagated by the government in a bid to disable them. They maintain that the government is the real culprit.

By gaining the trust of the Mungiki, Ross travels to locations then out of bounds to most ordinary Kenyans, let alone foreign reporters. His time with the Mungiki coincides with a bloody government crackdown on the Mungiki. Ross discovers that Kenya is still far from peace as finds himself in the middle of several riots as the Police round up Mungiki members.

Although Ross isn’t entirely convinced that these men are the saints they claim to be, he investigates and quickly realises that the situation is by no means clear-cut. After all, the Mungiki have their origins in spiritualism, denounce alcohol and drug-taking and, most importantly, Kenya’s poverty-ridden population are happy with their presence. When events take a tragic turn, with the abduction and murder of Jenga’s wife, Ross’ opinion is reinforced: “The Mungiki aren’t a gang, they’re an organisation and from what I saw whilst I was there, I think they’re justified.” “The death of the Mungiki leader’s wife while we were there sparked the riots. We were in the wrong place at the right time and that worked for our film“.

“The film contains an equal amount of fear and trepidation from myself, a lot of violence, a lot of gunfire and I’m told to go home by the police.”

Travelling outside of Nairobi, Ross also witnesses intolerable poverty in the town of Eldoret. Meeting the teenage mothers, their children and the orphans who live on a rubbish dump, Ross learns that they are all addicted to glue. “Those rubbish dumps will stay in my mind for the rest of my life,” says Ross. “When a woman drops her child on its head and picks it up and puts a glue bottle in its mouth, those are the things that stay with you, to see that loss, that desperation. Viewers will definitely be disturbed seeing little kids sniffing glue which has been given to them by their teenage mothers who are addicted to solvents.”

Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special is engrossing and immersive viewing, providing insight into a country in crisis: “I’m very proud of the Kenya special. For me, it’s a fascinating story and moves Gangs on to a more political side of what we’ve been doing. I’m very proud of the film, but I’m very sad about the people who died whilst we were out there.”

Mon 22 Sept, 9pm, only on Sky1 and Sky1 HD