Tension gripped Kisumu on Sunday after suspected goons armed with machetes, rungus and arrows attempted to force their way into St Stephen’s ACK Cathedral, where Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Siaya Governor James Orengo were attending a church service under the Linda Mwananchi banner.
Videos circulating online showed groups of young men gathering near the cathedral as police, reportedly outnumbered, struggled to contain the standoff at the main gate. In the chaos that followed, motorbikes believed to belong to the attackers were set ablaze, and at least one person was seriously injured. Police later fired teargas to disperse the crowds.
Governor Orengo, addressing the incident on his social media pages, accused security agencies of working alongside the attackers rather than protecting the congregation. He credited ordinary Kenyans present at the scene for shielding the leaders, declaring that the Linda Mwananchi movement remained intact despite persistent claims of internal division. Earlier in the service, he had insisted that reports of a rift within the coalition were false, stating that unity among its leaders remained unshaken.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino claimed the youths had been dispatched to attack Sifuna and Orengo, framing the torched motorbikes as a direct consequence of that attempt. He further warned that supporters would keep defending themselves if police failed to guarantee their safety, cautioning that the repercussions of further attacks would be more severe than anticipated.
The confrontation follows a similar attack a day earlier, in which a campaign truck belonging to the Democracy for the Citizens Party was vandalised and torched in Ol Kalou, where a hotly contested parliamentary by-election is underway. No arrests have been announced in either case, and the National Police Service has yet to issue an official statement on the Kisumu incident.
The Ministry of Interior has repeatedly pledged to crack down on politically motivated violence as campaigns intensify ahead of the 2027 General Election, but rights groups and opposition figures argue that such assurances have done little to curb a rising pattern of attacks on political gatherings across the country.
As by-election tensions in Nyandarua and broader opposition mobilisation continue, Sunday’s events in Kisumu have renewed calls for tighter security around political and religious gatherings nationwide.
