Nyeri church attack: The buck stops with CS and police boss

People scamper for safety after suspected plain-clothes police officers lobbed teargas into Witima Anglican Church of Kenya in Othaya, Nyeri County, on January 25, 2026. [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

The ugly scene witnessed in Witima ACK Church in Nyeri County on Sunday when a church service attended by the opposition leaders led by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was marred with chaos and violence after police lobbed teargas in the church is yet another chilling sign that our country is sliding into a dark abyss lawlessness. With the 2027 General Election nearing, this current state of affairs is quite worrying. 

It is a national shame that such acts of violence and hooliganism as witnessed in Nyeri can be allowed to go on unabated and worse of all in the hallowed grounds of a place of worship. 

What was even more unfortunate was that police officers would throw teargas canisters in a church leaving worshippers and the clergy scampering for safety and causing harm even to children and the elderly for no apparent security reasons. This latest incident has drawn widespread public condemnation with the police as usual vowing to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book yet, ironically, the same police officers were at the centre of this heinous act without any valid justification of just how the church service was a security threat. 

Indeed, the unwarranted incident raises pertinent questions. The Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Inspector General of police(IG) Douglas Kanja, with whom the buck stops, owe Kenyans an explanation of just who gave out the orders to the police officers who invaded the church and used teargas in a clear attempt to stop the service, causing untold suffering of the congregants. 

It is common knowledge that police officers follow a chain of command that is traced upto to the IG, CS for Interior and the president before they embark on any security operation. It then follows that they must have been sanctioned by the bosses within the security apparatus to act the way they acted in this latest incident. It is then quite surprising that Mr Murkomen and Mr Kanja, are feigning ignorance of the matter and issuing statements condemning the incident, vowing to take action. 

Moreover, the sentiments of key government officials about this latest incident raises more eyebrows hence lending credence to the growing perception of government's involvement in the violence. Even before the police could launch investigations into the incident, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, who was speaking in Tharaka Nithi on the same day the Nyeri chaos occured, was quick to blame Mr Gachagua for orchestrating the chaos for political sympathy. In his statement condemning the chaos, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki also seemed to imply that the chaos was planned by politicians even before investigations had been carried out.

Yet this is not the first incident. It is becoming more of a trend that Mr Gachagua's events in Mt Kenya are marred with violence and chaos, leading to claims of the use of violence as part of attempts to curtail the political activities of the ex-DP,  who acrimoniously fell out with his former ally-turned-foe President William Ruto. The National Police Service (NPS) has in the past blamed the violence around Mr Gachagua on political goons and vowed to act but the acts of violence continue unabated.

Early this month, Mr Gachagua's public engagements in Kagio, Kirinyaga County were interrupted by heavily armed security officers. Recently, a church service attended by Mr Gachagua in Mathare in Nairobi was rocked with violence. 

In April last year, goons brazenly attacked a Presbyterian Church in Mwiki Nairobi, where Mr Gachagua was attending a church service and caused chaos. In the wake of the ugly scene, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, stated that it had swung into action to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book yet upto now, no arrests have been made and the matter seems to have been consigned to oblivion.

A similarly violent incident occured in November last year when a burial event attended by Mr Gachagua in Limuru, Kiambu County, turned chaotic forcing him to flee the venue as his vehicle was pelted with stones. During another event in Nyandarua County in December of the same year, a teargas canister was thrown by a police officer on the podium where Mr Gachagua was seated, interrupting the event. 

Since his impeachment as the Deputy President and his subsequent fallout with president Ruto, Mr Gachagua has declared a bare-knuckled political war against the president. He has vowed to rally the vote-rich Mt Kenya region to vote against Dr Ruto's re-election bid in 2027. Mr Gachagua has also become a fierce critic of Dr  Ruto's Kenya Kwanza government.  

Therefore, the violence that is witnessed in Gachagua's political events can plausibly be interpreted within the wider context of the prevailing political climate. The police's complacency in the wake of these violent incidents is worrying. For instance, the apparent involvement of police in the Witima fiasco clearly point to state complicity. It further shines a spotlight on the rising trend of  politicisation of security agencies. It is a shame that as a country, we are witnessing deliberate attempts to stop Mr Gachagua and his supporters from exercising their democratic right to assemble and freely express themselves. 

It is imperative to note that Mr Gachagua has every right to speak to the public and the government has a onerous responsibility of ensuring a peaceful environment for a healthy political competition in the country. 

As long as his political activities do not pose a threat to peace and stability in the country, there is absolutely no justification to stop them in whichever way. The ugly chaos in Nyeri should therefore be condemned in no uncertain terms and the NPS must act with utmost impartiality to maintain law and order.

Mr Nandiemo is a teacher and freelance writer. ([email protected])