Ojwang's murder exposes Ruto's nervous regime backed by Raila

An activist protests outside Nairobi Funeral Home demanding justice following Albert Ojwang’s death in police custody. June 9, 2025. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The extra-judicial killing of Albert Ojwang last week tells the chilling story of a nervous government. This waste of life is only the latest in deliberate taking of life by the Kenyan state.

Ojwang, a teacher and influential blogger, was hauled from his home in Homa Bay, 358km from Nairobi, to be killed in the city. Indications are the police, in their lawbreakers incarnation, tortured him between his home and Nairobi’s notorious Central Police.

Official autopsy reveals that Ojwang ultimately died at the station. In typical Kafkaesque drama, the murderers tried to cover up their acts with a long story. They lied that he had committed suicide! “He hit his head on the wall,” they said.  

These rogue officers imagine that Kenyans have frozen manure in their heads. They surely did not expect that – even without the benefit of autopsy – anyone would buy their absurd story? That someone smashed his own head into pulp, through repeated violent engagement with a wall?

The autopsy has confirmed our worst fears. Ojwang was murdered by Kenya’s trustees of the law. The killers said he had wronged them by “publishing a falsehood.”

So, who gave them the licence to kill an arrested person? At the very minimum, torture of a person under arrest is criminal bestiality. It speaks of sick people; veritable social monsters.

These monsters will pound someone’s son to death. Then go home to fellowship happily with their own children. They do not pause for a moment, to see the parental similarities and the psychotic and sociopathic absurdity. 

But do these acts of deliberate mischief go beyond the police? At the very top are there state officers, telling the world that they will protect the Kenya police against harassment? Are their acts since early 2023 calculated to intimidate Kenyans, and especially online youth?

The Kenya Kwanza high command believes in containing people through fear. They believe feeding the public on fear and bribes in the name of something called “empowerment” will sustain them in power, and possibly deliver a second term. 

Broad-based government

Violence against one citizen is a message not so much to the tortured individual. It is aimed instead at others, who may be tempted to dissent. Its rhyme and rhythm is totalitarian. In all its elements, the totalitarian regime is at odds with the people’s aspirations. The people’s voice is choked. They are expected to be subservient to one individual, who holds all the power. This individual is the state, and the state is him. He has captured independent authorities and silenced all voices, except those that flatter him. 

Kenya has arrived here. Everything that could go wrong in the Eldorado of East Africa is going wrong. Not even co-steering of the ship of state with Raila Odinga of ODM is helping. 

Indeed, the broad-based government of President Ruto and Mr Odinga has so far only led the ship into ever expanding misery. Where Mr Odinga previously checked in Dr Ruto, he now provides the props that Dr Ruto so badly needs to harness a strongman regime.  

Whether the two captains of state know it or not, they are writing their history. Mr Odinga may every so often attempt to disown responsibility, yet he cannot succeed. He is an integral part of Kenya Kwanza. He is a co-equal shareholder in Dr Ruto’s doings since July 2024. That is the story we are recording for posterity. Together, they are responsible for loss of norms and values in governance. Ruto has the authority. But Mr. Odinga has the power.

This powerful man is ensconced in the driver’s seat – in the stem, bowsprit, forecastle, and prow of the Kenyan ship of state. Remove Odinga and ODM from the equation, and Kenya Kwanza will vaporise the same day. Having reached whatever private pact with Mr Odinga, Dr Ruto’s UDA rides roughshod through Kenyans while Mr Odinga looks the other way. 

History teaches us that misrule is the definition of failed regimes. Unsure of themselves, they survive on buying the people, and silencing them where they cannot be bought. Post-colonial Africa is replete with examples. From Mobutu in Zaire, to Jean Bokassa in Central Africa; and from Macias Nguema in Equatorial Guinea, to Idi Amin in Uganda, Sani Abacha in Nigeria, and Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

Yet, eventually, they all go. People’s power is never ultimately defeated. The blood of patriots is the seed of more patriots and eventual victory over autocracy. History teaches us that patriots are never killed in vain. Ojwang lives on.