Homa Bay Violence Was An Attack On Kenyan Constitution

I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the political violence witnessed in Homa Bay County during the Linda Mwananchi tour on Sunday, 16 August 2026. Public reporting and footage documented road barricades, attacks on the convoy, injuries to journalists and other citizens, vandalised vehicles, a vehicle set on fire, destruction at a hotel used by Linda Mwananchi supporters, and multiple arrests. This was not normal political competition. It was a direct attack on the constitutional space in which Kenyans are entitled to assemble, speak, organise and disagree without being hunted, beaten or terrorised.

The warning signs were visible before the tour. Linda Mwananchi leaders publicly raised concerns about planned disruption. Reports also captured threatening remarks directed at people wearing Linda Mwananchi colours. When violence then erupts in the very places where threats and warnings had already been reported, the State has a duty to do more than count arrests after blood has been spilled. It must establish who organised the violence, who financed it, who transported the attackers, who issued instructions, and whether any public officer used office, influence, security structures or public resources to enable it.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL LINE HAS BEEN CROSSED

Article 37 of the Constitution protects the right of every person, peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, demonstrate, picket and present petitions. Article 33 protects freedom of expression. Article 29 protects the freedom and security of the person. Article 244 requires the National Police Service to act professionally, respect human rights and remain accountable to the people. These are not favours to be granted by whichever political formation controls a county or the national government. They are constitutional guarantees.

I therefore demand immediate accountability concerning Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, Homa Bay Town MP Peter Opondo Kaluma, Kwabwai Ward MCA and Homa Bay County Assembly Majority Leader Richard Ouma Ogindo, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, and Principal Secretary for Internal Security and National Administration Dr Raymond Omollo. These officials occupy positions of political influence or security responsibility. Public allegations and recorded remarks concerning the events must be tested through evidence, not buried by political power. Each must be investigated independently, and where evidence establishes criminal, command, facilitative or other legal responsibility, prosecution must follow without fear, favour or immunity-by-status.

For Governor Wanga, MP Kaluma and MCA Ogindo, investigators must determine whether any meeting, instruction, payment, mobilisation, transport, communication or other act connected them to persons who threatened or attacked Linda Mwananchi supporters. For CS Murkomen and PS Omollo, the country deserves a full account of why foreseeable violence was not prevented despite advance warnings, what operational directives were issued, and whether security officers protected the constitutional rights of all citizens impartially. Failure of command must not disappear inside press conferences and bureaucratic language.

MY DEMANDS

1. Independent criminal investigation: The DCI, DPP, NCIC and other competent agencies must preserve and examine video footage, CCTV, phone records, mobile-money and bank trails, vehicle movements, hotel records, witness statements and security command logs. The investigation must reach organisers and financiers, not merely the young people used at the front line.
2. Prosecute on the evidence: Every person who assaulted, incited, financed, organised or facilitated the violence must face the law. The same standard must apply to a governor, MP, MCA, police officer, Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary, party operative or ordinary citizen.
3. Investigate the named public officials: Governor Gladys Wanga, MP Peter Opondo Kaluma, MCA Richard Ouma Ogindo, CS Kipchumba Murkomen and PS Dr Raymond Omollo must provide statements and relevant records to investigators. If evidence meets the legal threshold, they must be charged and prosecuted. Public office cannot become a shield against accountability.
4. Police accountability and protection of journalists: Any police misconduct or failure that contributed to the violence must be reviewed by the appropriate oversight bodies, including IPOA where applicable. Journalists who were assaulted while doing their work deserve justice, recovery of stolen property where possible, and protection from intimidation.
5. Victim support and restitution: Those injured or whose property was destroyed should receive prompt assistance, and the persons lawfully found responsible should be pursued for restitution and compensation through the appropriate legal processes.
6. International consequences for political violence: I call on Kenya’s democratic partners and international human-rights institutions to urgently review targeted diplomatic, travel and financial measures against President William Ruto and any senior official credibly established, through independent evidence, to have directed, enabled, acquiesced in or shielded political violence. Kenya cannot demand international respect while political dissent is answered with organised fear.

President William Ruto bears the ultimate political responsibility to ensure that the national security machinery protects every Kenyan equally, including those who oppose him. He must publicly order a transparent investigation, guarantee non-interference, and make clear that no political ally will be protected. If the presidency responds to political violence with silence, selective enforcement or protection of allies, then the problem is no longer local. It becomes a crisis of democratic governance at the highest level.

Let nobody reduce this statement to party rivalry. Today it is Linda Mwananchi. Tomorrow it can be a church group, a youth movement, a trade union, a journalist, a civil-society organisation or any citizen who speaks an inconvenient truth. The moment violence becomes an accepted method of managing political disagreement, democracy stops being a contest of ideas and becomes a contest of who can hire the most thugs. Kenya has paid too much blood for constitutional government to be dragged back there.

To the people of Homa Bay: your county belongs to you, not to any governor, MP, MCA, party or president. You have the right to welcome, reject, question or support any political leader without being threatened. To Linda Mwananchi leaders and supporters, and to the journalists and residents caught in the violence: you should never have had to risk your safety to exercise rights that the Constitution already guarantees.

No ballot is worth blood. No political office is worth terror. No friendship with power is worth destroying the Republic. We demand justice, not revenge; evidence, not rumours; due process, not impunity. But justice must be real, swift and fearless – and it must reach whoever planned, financed, enabled or protected the violence, however powerful that person may be.

HOMA BAY MUST BE THE LAST TIME KENYA WATCHES POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND CALLS IT POLITICS.

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HON. STEVE BIKO WAFULA

Leader, Webuye West