‘Shaking in rage’: Millie Odhiambo on woman’s near-death Homa Bay ordeal
Increasing gangster violence in political rallies are forcing Kenyans to remember the horrific 2007/8 election violence which tore the country to pieces and Kofi Annan had to come to Kenya to help bring back peace and the semblance of a country after working with Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga to bring Kenya back to its feet amidst all the bloodshed and fear in the country.
What Kenyans are seeing in their streets every week today in political rallies and meetings point to a warring situation where every side in the political gambling business to be in power one way or another in 2027 is rolling in the violence Kenyans face and that looks great for them. Maybe NOT for the country.
Kenyans already know that we have a police force which is messed up and Kenyans see that because the police job is to keep law and order in the country and let Kenyans go on with their business in a safe environment. Kenya police have failed on that and it is getting unacceptable.
Today Kenyans are facing another life and death nightmare where opposition groups like Linda Mwanainchi did with Homa Bay, even before they launch their weekend rallies declare there will be war at those events and the same opposition leaders as Kenyans have seen and heard also promise to organize and arm their own gangsters which they claim is to protect them.
It is a terrible political problem for the country but the reality on the ground is what needs the attention of all Kenyans and the political leadership at every level and that is the fact that people are getting killed and it must stop.
In the news today, Suba South MP Millie Odhiambo met two women who were affected by the violence in Homa Bay, including a woman politician who had been discharged from a hospital in Kisumu and was travelling to Mombasa.
The MP said the woman, whom she described as an aspiring Woman Representative in a coastal county, was still in severe pain and using a wheelchair when they met.
Odhiambo said she had been informed about the woman’s ordeal and deliberately sought to meet her to hear her account of what happened during the violence.
“I was told of her ordeal. I purposed to and did meet her and another woman victim of violence yesterday when she was en route to Mombasa after being discharged from a hospital in Kisumu,” she said.
“She was in a wheelchair. She was still in extreme pain.”
According to Odhiambo, the woman gave her a harrowing account of the attack and how narrowly she escaped death.
“…She gave a harrowing account of her ordeal and how close she came to death,” Odhiambo said.
The MP claimed the woman was seriously injured and that blood was flowing from her head when a man who had allegedly participated in an earlier beating approached her with a panga.
“As blood was oozing from her head uncontrollably, a ‘young man’ who was part of the earlier beatings raised his panga to finish her off.”
Odhiambo said the situation changed after another woman who knew the man intervened and pleaded with him not to kill the injured woman.
According to the MP, the man later apologised and claimed he had participated in the violence because he was unemployed and had allegedly been paid.
“The young man apologised and said he only did that because he is jobless and they were given money and instructed to kill…,” she said.
Odhiambo said the man subsequently helped the injured woman, hiding her in a toilet before helping her access first aid and eventually securing an ambulance to take her to hospital.
“He even provided another ‘young man’ to protect her,” she said.
Right on the foot of that tragedy, Homa Bay has another horrible death of a woman hit by car and left to bleed to death.
How does anyone explain this when a woman walking by the road is hit by the campaign vehicle of the same opposition folks complaining about violence and they leave her there to bleed to death after rolling their car over her. Is that some kind of revenge? And that is opposition politics in Kenya today? Please.
Gladys Wanga speaks out after Ugandan woman is killed in Homa Bay chaos
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga has spoken out following the death of Ugandan national Mama Noureen Nalwanga during a political rally in the county, condemning the violence and calling for an impartial investigation into the incident.
Visiting the bereaved family in Mbuni Estate, Wanga condemned the clashes that erupted on Sunday, August 16, 2026, during a procession organized by the opposition-aligned “Linda Mwananchi” movement.
The violence claimed the life of Mama Noureen Nalwanga, affectionately known locally as “NyaUganda,” who died after being struck by a campaign vehicle in the amidst of the political gathering.
“Mama Noureen Nalwanga (NyaUganda) tragically lost her life on Sunday evening after being overrun by a campaign vehicle during the Linda Mwananchi rally in Homa Bay,” Wanga said in a public statement released on Wednesday evening, August 19, 2026.
“I passed by her home in Mbuni Estate to stand with the family and share in their grief. My heartfelt condolences go to her family, friends and loved ones.”
While Millie Odhiambo was trying to help very badly injured women during the Homa Bay rallies after being attacked by sponsored gangsters, Babu Owino and James Orengo were also busy presenting a suspect in arming street killers was summoned to the DCI offices in Nairobi.
In the news, Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino appeared outside the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters along Kiambu Road on Tuesday, August 18, accompanying his security aide Oliver Jaoko, who had surrendered to authorities after being named a person of interest in connection with violence in Homa Bay.
Babu Owino’s Personal Security Aide Surrenders to DCI after Being Linked to Homa Bay Chaos.
Jaoko is accused of being in possession of an illegal firearms to distribute to gangsters. Police had identified him in relation to an incident involving members of a group known as Team Linda Mwananchi.
The same thing happened just a month ago in Kisumu where James Orengo and other Linda Mwanainchi went into a church and brought their politics there with the usual complaints about threats of attack while bringing their own gangsters to the church and they almost burnt the whole place down.
Siaya Governor James Orengo and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna during a church service in Kisumu on Sunday, July 12, 2026.
After James Orengo and the Linda politicians left the church talking all the nonsense about Orengo and Sifuna not fighting to a prayer time at the church Linda team sent their own gangsters to attack others outside the church and Babu Owino went on record declaring that those attacked outside the church got what they deserved.
This is now everyday politics in Kenya where some opposition groups like the Linda team have decided to arm their own gangsters to compete with other gangs organized by their political enemies.
For the Linda team it seems the only news they want in their rallies are attacks and generalized violence so all that is what is in the news. If there is no violence it looks like even the opposition politicians will have no media reports and nobody will pay attention because pretty much the politicians have nothing to tell Kenyans about what their plans are for the country because they have no plans at all.
Take the Homa Bay weekend chaos for over a week before the rallies opposition leaders were everywhere screaming about planned chaos and declaring how they were prepared to deal with the violence. Not once did those organizing the rally tell Kenyans and those poor Homa Bay folks what they want to achieve for the country.
These rallies inviting violence and chaos for publicity are often announced weeks before the events and that time is for media fights about who is going to commit violence and how that will be handled. They never talk about anything else for Kenyans.
The Ruto government has had a huge ongoing national meeting on healthcare which is still going on at the KICC in Nairobi. There is a lot of information on healthcare and SHA which according to the Ruto government has registered more that 32 million Kenyans who now access healthcare through SHA.
These people scrambling to go to Homa Bay are they going there to talk about healthcare for Homa Bay folks or at least talk about housing and jobs for young Kenyans who call Homa Bay their home. None of that matters to the opposition at all which makes one wonder if Kenyans as human beings rather than voters even matter to the opposition groups in Kenya at all or it just thirst for power for them.
Kindiki: We will not relent until all Kenyans are registered under SHA
Kindiki said 32 million Kenyans had been registered under SHA over the past two years.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said the government is stepping up efforts to register all Kenyans under the Social Health Authority (SHA), with a target of reaching 40 million people by the end of 2026.
Kindiki said 32 million Kenyans had been registered under SHA over the past two years, representing about 60 per cent coverage.
“It appeared impossible four years ago, but now healthcare universality is a possibility. We can smell it. We hope by the end of the year we will reach 40 million people and by next August we will have all Kenyans registered,” he said.
The Deputy President was speaking on Wednesday during the second day of the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.
Kindiki said the government’s focus was not only on increasing SHA registration but also on expanding the health system’s capacity to respond to the growing demand for services.
“Universal Health Coverage is about the health of the people of Kenya. Better quality healthcare for every citizen. We are now around 60 per cent coverage. This is not a small measure compared to other countries,” he said.
Since 2022, the government has deployed 24,573 healthcare interns across the 47 counties, sponsored 262 medical registrars for specialist training and committed to recruiting 5,000 additional nurses and midwives.
The national government and counties have also recruited 107,000 Community Health Promoters (CHPs), who serve as the first point of contact between communities and the health system.
The government has also expanded medical equipment in public facilities through the National Equipment Service Programme (NESP).
Kindiki said equipment worth Sh9.8 billion had been delivered to 239 health facilities across 44 counties.
The government is also working to strengthen the supply of medicines and medical commodities through the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA), which Kindiki said had undergone significant restructuring since 2022.
He also called for stronger regulation of medicines and medical products.
“Availability of medicine must also mean safety and quality. The Pharmacy and Poisons Board must strengthen efficient regulation, post-market surveillance and pharmacovigilance, and act firmly against falsified and substandard products,” Kindiki said.
Kindiki said the Primary Healthcare Fund had received Sh27.4 billion and paid Sh23.3 billion to more than 9,300 Level 2 and Level 3 health facilities.
“Our objective is straightforward: a health system that works for the first time, works in every county and works for every Kenyan,” Kindiki said.
It would be important if the Kenya opposition groups dying for power in 2027 could also tell Kenyans how they intend to provide healthcare to Kenyans. Kalonzo Musyoka already publicly announced that if elected his government would immediately abolish SHA completely and he will not bring back NHIF.
Where does that leave Kenyans and who depend on SHA today? Will all Kenyans have to go to Kalonzo and Gachagua’s private doctors to get Medicare? Where will those Kenyans get their pharmacy supplies when they are sick and dying and need help? From the street kiosks?
Kenyans understand that the opposition is not interested in talking about those things that are important to Kenyans in their daily lives and that is fine. Those Kenyans will make their decisions on who runs the next government on August 10, 2027 and that is the great news for them. Everybody will get their due including the politicians.
In the meantime it is okay for the opposition to waste time and pretend to be busy calling the International Criminal Court to come to Kenya and solve problems for them.
Any leader up there who thinks that the ICC will waste their valuable time coming to Kenya when the country and its leaders want to turn the country into feuding village violence needs to get another job.
Right now the ICC has been handling the Bibi Netanyahu and Israeli genocide in Gaza which wiped out more than 260,000 Palestinians including more that 60,000 children and thankfully South Africa took Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICJ) but the ICC is also handling that case with a lot of difficulties from USA President Donald Trump a big supporter of the genocide who helped to provide the weapons to wipe out whole populations in Gaza since 2023.
Kenya politicians need to deal with their village mentality politics and the ICC has no time for that.
United Opposition call on ICC to investigate President Ruto over goonism
The United Alternative Government has called upon the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to initiate action against President William Ruto following investigations over the latest political violence experienced across the country.
In a statement read on behalf of the United Opposition, People’s Liberation Party Leader Martha Karua highlighted recent attacks on Opposition politicians during rallies, calling on the government to explain how such chaos could occur under its watch.
She noted that the ICC ought to review the status of previous charges levelled against President Ruto and assess whether to reopen the case.
“We call on the ICC prosecutor to closely monitor developments in Kenya and assess whether credible information warrants an examination,” she explained.
“Should evidence emerge of widespread or systematic attacks against civilians being organized, financed, directed or tolerated by those in authority, we urge the prosecutor to investigate President Ruto, a former ICC inductee, and review the status of previous charges against him.”
Kenyans would take seriously human rights groups like the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said on Tuesday that it had documented a pattern of political intolerance, violence and intimidation between June and August 2026, including incidents involving civilians, police officers, journalists, political actors and human rights defenders.
The rights commission said political speeches and public utterances that encourage hostility or violence were also a concern, warning that inflammatory language could be acted upon by supporters.
Can Kenyan politicians particularly those in the opposition learn something from Ndindi Nyoro.
Ndindi Nyoro declares 2027 presidential bid, backs opposition unity
The MP pledges to support another opposition candidate agreed on by leaders to challenge Ruto
“If our mothers who are also seeking good leadership and want to push Kenya forward look at this young man from Kiharu and decide that he has worked hard and even schools in his constituency are almost free, will there be a problem with that?” Ndindi told a crowd in Murang’a after declaring he is running for the presidency in 2027.
It would be really good if Kenyan politicians can learn from what Ndindi just did with no fuss and big speeches about expected violence to promote themselves.
Ndindi Nyoro announced that he would hold a public rally and right the next day he was there in Murang’a presenting his plans for the country and for the folks he was talking to right in front of him.
He had no show business talking about violence for weeks before his rally because he had an agenda to present and had faith people will come and listen to him. Didn’t need any drama at all. Can other opposition leaders particularly the Linda Group that talks about chaos weeks before their promised rallies learn from Ndindi Nyoro and it is very simple. Have an agenda and present it to Kenyans.
Ndindi Nyoro is a politician who has a record of work as an MP to speak to Kenyans about. A lot of the opposition noisemakers have no record at all of anything they have ever done for the country to speak about and that explains their need to seek publicity from somewhere else and so far, it is beginning to look like politicians need the chaos to have any platform at all otherwise they will sit lonely somewhere with no media to make them relevant to anybody.
In terms of law and order, President Ruto has to wake up and remember as the president that the safety of Kenyans is his fist duty and responsibility.
Kenya has one year to election and all violence in political rallies and events have to stop right now before it gets out of control. The Kenya government has to make it clear to all Kenyans and politicians that in every political rally or event in the country, Kenyans will have state security and local police protecting everybody from attacks and those who come to rallies to cause chaos will be arrested.
It has to be made very clear by the government that no political group whether it is UDA, ODM, Linda Mwanainchi, DCP, Wiper party or anybody else will be allowed to bring hired gangs, goons and other armed groups with them to any rally or meeting. Politicians who bring goons should be asked to leave with their goons or get arrested.
Politicians who are found guilty of bringing goons and gangsters into rallies and meetings should all be barred from running for any office because that is a breach of Chapter Six of the 2010 Kenya Constitution.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
