From left: Kanu boss Gideon Moi, Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, Mumias East MP Peter Salasya and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
The dramatic raid of Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya’s home, a night siege of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s homes and the arrest of Mumias East MP Peter Salasya have fueled the perception of weaponisation of state agencies to settle political scores.
Several perceived critics of President William Ruto’s administration have of late, become targets of state agencies over allegations of corruption and hate speech. The latest trend mirrors past similar arrests during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure that were seen to have targeted perceived allies of then DP Ruto at the height of their bitter political fallout.
Apart from Mr Gachagua, Mr Natembeya and Mr Salasya, Kanu boss Gideon Moi is also on the radar of state agencies after a company associated with him, Kencont Container Freight Station (CFS) in Mombasa, was on Friday raided by police and Kenya Railways officers on accusations that the land it occupies is held illegally.
Kenya Railway Corporation Officers outside the Kencont Container Freight Station (CFS) Premises in Mombasa, which was raided by KRC and Police Officers. The company linked to Kanu Chairman Gideon Moi (inset).
Mr Salasya was on Monday arraigned before Milimani Law Courts where he denied charges of hate speech. The court freed him on Sh500,000 bond or Sh200,000 cash bail. The MP, who was arrested over the weekend, was accused of stirring ethnic hatred by posts made on X (formerly Twitter), on May 10.
Through his lawyers, the MP protested the manner in which he was arrested, claiming that his car was shot at and the officers who picked him up failed to identify themselves. The court heard that Mr Salasya was taken to an undisclosed location before eventually being driven to Nairobi and held at Central Police Station.
Some of the raids and arrests were staged barely days after public threats by individuals working in the executive or politicians close to the President, lending credence to claims by the opposition that Kenya Kwanza could have resorted to using investigative agencies to intimidate critics.
For instance, on Sunday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, while in Kitale, made a veiled attack against Governor Natembeya, and warned him against disrespecting the presidency. Mr Murkomen told the county boss to retract his style of politics of demeaning the government and disrespecting the presidency.
Mumias East MP Peter Salasya at the Milimani Law Courts on May 19, 2025.
“Senator Chesang, when you meet with the governor, tell him to behave like a person who has served our government in high office. He should not be reckless in his utterances," said Mr Murkomen.
"I have noted that some leaders here behave so badly that they carry along thugs when they go to burials and other community events. This is wrong and we must stop it because we want politics of decency," the CS said at Nuru AIC in Kitale.
Mr Murkomen and Deputy President Kithure Kindiki also threatened Mr Gachagua with arrests in repeated messaging over the weekend.
"Let that man continue making noise and inciting Kenyans. We will arrest him. The other day, he told us that if he is impeached, there will be chaos in Kenya; was there chaos? No. When he saw that there was no chaos, he went home to pretend to be the one who had calmed people. We will arrest him," Mr Murkomen said in the Kalenjin dialect at a function in Iten on Saturday, before repeating the same message in English.
Mr Gachagua had warned that the country could plunge into election violence worse than what was witnessed in the 2007 disputed elections should the yet-to-be established Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) bungle the polls.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
On Sunday night, Mr Gachagua’s allies claimed that police had raided his Nairobi and Nyeri homes. On Monday, Mr Gachagua alleged a special police squad had planned to storm his residences for an ulterior motive. Mr Gachagua termed the action state-sponsored terror, saying he has not been officially summoned by authorities to answer to any issues. “The one term movement will not be stopped or slowed down. The drama of waylaying me must stop; they can come and arrest me. Our supporters have a right to express their opinions if injustice prevails,” Mr Gachagua said.
Close to 400km away from the city, EACC and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) staged a dramatic raid at the governor’s home on Monday morning.
Heavy deployment of police officers outside Governor Natembeya 's home.
Plain-clothes officers, escorted by anti-riot police officers from Kitale, stormed the home at 7am. What followed was a chaotic scene after rowdy youth joined in protests against the raid.
Anti-riot police who had escorted the EACC team helplessly watched as rowdy youths vandalised EACC vehicles in the ensuing chaos.
"This is the worst kind of intimidation by the government on elected leaders. This primitive actions and harassment of opposition leaders has to stop," DAP-K party leader Eugene Wamalwa said when he arrived at the scene.
Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka also criticised the EACC, claiming the agency was being used to silence critics.
“The EACC should not be weaponised against leaders who are simply doing their job or choosing to stand firm in their principles like Natembeya. We must protect our democratic space and allow institutions to function independently, free from political interference,” said Mr Musyoka.
But government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura refuted the assertion, stating the arrests are on the basis of an offence allegedly committed by the respective individuals.
“I don’t think that’s a fair statement. If you look at anyone who may have been arrested, it has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It cannot simply be assumed that their arrest is because they do not support the broad-based government,” said Mr Mwaura.
“Why am I saying so? Even within the ODM party, there are voices that may not necessarily agree with the broad-based government, and they have come out strongly to speak about it. We are a free and democratic country. And it’s not just ODM—look at UDA. You’ll find quite a number of members with contrary opinions, and they are still not being arrested by anyone whatsoever,” Mr Mwaura added.
The Nation reached out to EACC Head of Communication Stephen Karuga over claims that the agency was being used to settle political scores. We sought to know what became of past publicised probes, such as a similar recent dramatic raid on the home of Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi. Also, why most corruption cases appear to be targeting those critical of the system.
EACC had in April staged yet another dramatic raid and arrest of Mr Wamatangi over corruption allegations.
Mr Karuga did not respond to the specific questions. Instead, he shared a statement by EACC chief executive officer Abdi Mohamud that only addressed Monday’s raid on Mr Natembeya’s home.
In the statement, EACC explained that its Monday raid at Mr Natembeya’s residence is related to a probe on allegations of irregular procurement and fictitious payments amounting to Sh1.4 billion.
The commission further says it is also probing allegations of money laundering and accumulation of unexplained wealth by senior county officials in Trans Nzoia, suspected to be part of a broader scheme to conceal the proceeds of crime.
“The search operation is part of a wider investigation into allegations of procurement irregularities, abuse of office, bribery, and fraudulent acquisition of public funds,” Mr Mohamud said.
According to EACC, the investigations focus on three major projects awarded by the county government.
In Mombasa, the police and Kenya Railways officers stalled operations of Kencont Container Freight Station (CFS), a subsidiary of the Siginon Group.
By Sunday morning, the premises were still heavily guarded by police officers backed up with private security guards, who the company says gained forceful entry.
The CFS’s legal officer, Ms Eva Odongo, said the officers demanded access to the facility on accusations that the land it occupies is held illegally.
Evah Odongo, Legal Officer for Kencont Container Freight Station (CFS).
“They had no proof to support their malicious allegations. The truth of the matter is that the land occupied by Kencont CFS is leased from landlords. Kencont CFS are tenants. Our landlords have genuine title deeds with up-to-date payments,” she stated.
Siginon is a logistics cargo handling firm with interests in global logistics, ground handling, air cargo handling and CFS operations.
Ms Odongo said Kencont CFS was licensed in 2002 and houses officers from all government agencies involved in cargo clearance for importers, including Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), customs officials, Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs), among others. A senior police officer in Mombasa confirmed the raid, but insisted that the operation was entirely under the Kenya Railways Police command.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua said Kenyans must push back against the concerted efforts by the Kenya Kwanza administration to take the country back to the dark days of a single-party dictatorship.
“This administration has gone back on every single promise it made to Kenyans before it got into office. They vowed before God and before men that extrajudicial killings would be a thing of the past; they vowed to end political persecution; they vowed to transform the National Police Service into a people-friendly unit of governance,” said Mr Wambua.
He added: “Their appetite for use of brute force to silence the voice of reason is out there for all to see. But there shall not be enough police officers and bullets, and cells to contain the millions of Kenyans determined to save their country for this and future generations. A Luta Continua; the struggle continues.”
In the run-up to the 2022 presidential elections, President Ruto and his allies accused then President Uhuru of weaponising security agencies to settle political scores. Then DP Ruto claimed that some of his allies faced all manner of threats for associating with him.
He once told the DCI, EACC, and Kenya Revenue Authority and other state agencies not to allow themselves to be used to settle political scores.
“He (Uhuru) has succeeded in capturing, compromising and weaponising the state institutions, especially police and the prosecutorial services of the Office of Director of Public Prosecution,” then Kandara MP Alice Wahome claimed.
Additional reporting by Sam Kiplagat
