Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and other political leaders visit Juja MP George Koimburi at Karen Hospital on May 26, 2025.
The controversial abduction of Juja MP George Koimburi — who was found unconscious in a coffee plantation in Kiambu on Monday — adds to a worrying trend of apparently State-sanctioned terror against perceived critics of President William Ruto’s administration.
An ally of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the MP was allegedly abducted by unknown people while attending a church service in Mugutha, Juja.
On Monday, Mr Gachagua claimed that the lawmaker was tortured by “professionals”.
“He was beaten badly and tortured. He is unable to speak but was able to write. Doctors have confirmed that Koimburi was subjected to torture and he sustained serious soft tissue injuries, which they say appear to have been inflicted by professionals. A chemical was administered through inhalation, and it has affected his vocal cords,” Mr Gachagua said while addressing journalists at the Karen Hospital.
The Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader said that Mr Koimburi had earlier on Friday escaped on a motorbike when he was accosted by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, before he was finally grabbed while attending a church service on Sunday.
“He was abducted in full view of church members by a squad that also tried to harm his wife. His whereabouts were unknown until Monday morning when he was discovered in a coffee plantation in Githunguri Constituency,” said Mr Gachagua who was flanked by other MPs allied to him.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and other political leaders visit Juja MP George Koimburi at Karen Hospital on May 26, 2025.
But Police Spokesman Michael Muchiri told Daily Nation that the government was not involved in the abduction of Mr Koimburi. He said that if the MP was wanted, they would have summoned him.
“We have evaluated the whole situation since Friday when Mr Koimburi claimed he was arrested by our officers and, subsequently, on Sunday when he claimed again that he had been arrested. In all the situations, Mr Koimburi is trying to whip up emotions among his supporters because of his imminent arrest over a land fraud case and the ongoing case where he is alleged to have faked academic certificates,’’ Mr Muchiri claimed.
Perceived critics of the Kenya Kwanza government have lately become targets of state agencies. Some have been picked up by people believed to be security officials, tortured and dumped in strange locations without any charges brought against them.
But Kenya Kwanza leaders maintain that it is misleading to accuse politicians of pushing the police to settle political scores. Citing the Constitution, they say that the National Police Service, under the command of the Inspector-General Douglas Kanja, acts independently.
There are complaints of a major crackdown that entails withdrawal of the security detail of politicians seen to be critical of the system as well as unleashing state agencies like the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on opponents.
Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi said: “It is indeed true that the government is increasingly becoming intolerant of criticism. Koimburi’s abduction and torture is the clearest proof. I condemn it in the strongest terms possible.”
“It is not only a violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights, but also those of United Nations (UN) conventions to which Kenya is a signatory to. The President recently publicly announced that abductions have stopped. He must be held accountable for this flagrant violation of Koimburi’s rights,” he stated.
The perceived state-sponsored crackdown has been going on since the June 2024 nationwide anti-government protests. Ring leaders and organisers of the protests — that shook Dr Ruto’s administration to the core forcing him to dissolve his Cabinet as well as reject the Finance Bill, 2024 — were targeted. Since the protests, the government has been on the spot over its handling of critics.
In January, Mr Muturi, while still sitting in the Cabinet, linked the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to the state-sponsored abductions. He accused the agency of abducting his son, Leslie Muturi, in Nairobi on June 22, 2024. He alleged that the son was only released after a phone call from President Ruto.
At least 60 people were killed during the anti-Finance Bill, 2024 protests and 600 protesters were arrested, according to a report by Amnesty International dubbed, The State of World’s Human Rights.
According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, at least 82 cases of abductions were reported in 2024 alone, with only 29 cases resolved.
In August last year, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) told the National Assembly's Constitutional Implementation and Oversight Committee that 19 people were abducted during the June 2024 anti-government protests.
Further, according to a State of National Security report tabled in Parliament by President Ruto in September, the country witnessed a 44 per cent increase in kidnappings and abductions between September 2023 and August 2024. The report, however, linked the cases to criminal elements.
"Kidnappings and abductions have become a security concern in Kenya in the recent past and the victims are not only men but also women and children, including foreign nationals. The criminals are often motivated by ransom demands and sometimes engage in human trafficking," the report says.
Killings and forced disappearances
In a January 2023 interview, Dr Ruto said he sacked then DCI boss George Kinoti due to a rise in police killings and forced disappearances during former President Uhuru Kenyatta tenure.
“Thirty bodies in Yala, 17 in Garissa. There was a container here at Nairobi Area where people were being slaughtered, in a police station… how did we end up there? What kind of rogue institution was that? And that is why I fired that Kinoti man, because it’s not right. There will be responsibility,” the President charged.
“There will be no extrajudicial killings in Kenya under my administration. I have agreed with (police) IG and other police bosses that the police will operate within the law. As an administration, we will work with all institutions, Ipoa has our support,” said the president.
Senate Leader of Majority Aaron Cheruiyot told the Nation that some individuals with criminal cases had found it convenient to hide behind political persecution to shield themselves from being held accountable.
He defended the police and other state agencies, arguing that they have remained professional in discharging their duties.
“Article 245 of our constitution grants the Inspector General of Police independent command of the police service. It is ill-advised to imagine that when police do their work, they are acting at the behest of politicians,” said Senator Cheruiyot.
“Let's allow our police to do their work devoid of unfair criticism. In any case, the judiciary is there to serve as an arbiter between the state and individuals who feel oppressed. Criticism of the government isn't insurance for law breaking. Otherwise all criminals will have to do is criticise the government and plead political persuasion,” he said.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei told the Nation that there was no such agenda to silence government critics. He said that the National Police Service remains an independent institution that does not take orders from the political class.
He said the broad-based government has no interest in using security agencies to manage politics, stating that they have enough politicians to manage politics on behalf of the administration.
Senator Cherargei, however, noted that Parliament needs to have its own police unit for provision of security to Members of Parliament.
But Gatanga MP Edward Muriu, another ally of Mr Gachagua, told the Nation that the government was openly targeting opposition politicians. Mr Muriu, who was among MPs who visited Mr Koimburi in the hospital, said the strategy by the government is to instill fear among those perceived to be critical.
“They have vowed that they will make sure they will instill fear, break bones, file trumped up charges against the political class and keep them very busy in hospitals nursing wounds and fighting for their dear lives and others in court fighting all manners of charges from corruption related to KRA related charges,” Mr Muriu told the Nation.
Withdrawal of security
“They know that they have lost ground across the country and they are now fighting for their survival. The episodes last Sunday but one in Gatanga constituency when a whole battalion of police and DCI officers tried to waylay Gachagua’s convoy with a view to plant firearms was the height of this political desperation.
He said the ongoing ‘abduction and maiming of political leaders’, withdrawal of their security and removal from parliamentary committees was part of the underhand dealings by the administration to fight opposition politicians.
Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara on Friday protested alleged withdrawal of her security for supporting Mr Gachagua. He hit out at President Ruto for using the security agency to manage politics.
"I feel very vulnerable now, I feel so naked… Mr President, please give me back my security officer. I am a very small person to be fought with such a big punch, and I think it is not fair. Please, let me live because when you remove my bodyguard, it means you want to harm me. Don’t do what you swore not to do,” said Ms Kihara.
On Saturday, DCP deputy party leader Cleophas Malala’s planned rally in Kakamega was disrupted and stopped by police using teargas and rubber bullets. Mr Malala and senators John Methu (Nyandarua) and Kiambu’s Karungo Thang’wa were forced to address the scattered crowd in brief stopovers.
Democracy for the Citizens Party deputy leader Cleophas Malala addresses party supporters in Kakamega town on May 24, 2025.
“I strongly condemn the use of brute force, live bullets and unnecessary teargas by our security agencies to disperse a peaceful procession merely welcoming home their leader. Kenya is a nation governed by the rule of law, and such acts have no place in a modern, democratic society,” said Mr Malala.
Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi said it was worrying that some state agencies have allowed themselves to be used to settle political scores. He cited the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the security agencies of becoming political tools exploited to harass opposition politicians.
"The country's constitution clearly defines how all Kenyans irrespective of their political background are supposed to freely express their democratic rights without anybody trying to curtail them through threats and intimidation,” said Mr Mwangangi.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua said the crackdown on leaders and communities holding a divergent view from the view held by the ruling elite is a slap on the face of our democracy.
He said Kenyans must push back and refuse to be taken back to the dark days of a single party administration where what the president said was law.
“President William Ruto must be wishing that he was president before August 27, 2010 the day governance in this country changed for the better, forever. No wonder he led the opposition to the new constitutional order. But this is Kenya in the 21st Century under a constitutional dispensation that abhors dictatorship and high handedness. As a way forward, the masses must reject these dictatorial tendencies whenever and wherever they rear their ugly heads,” said Senator Wambua.
