(Nairobi) – Criminal gangs in Kenya have carried out a spate of violent attacks targeting civil society and opposition gatherings ahead of the 2027 elections, Human Rights Watch said today. The Kenyan authorities should ensure prompt and transparent investigations into the attacks and that people can exercise their political rights without fear of violence.

Over the last few months, groups of unidentified armed people have attacked a civil society event and several opposition political gatherings across the country, reportedly killing at least six people and injuring dozens more. The authorities do not appear to have taken meaningful steps to ensure accountability for these abuses.

“The spate of violence, as the pre-election period begins, threatens a return to the human rights abuses that have marred Kenya’s previous elections,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities need to break this cycle of violence by ensuring that those responsible cannot act with impunity.”

The elections, in which President William Ruto is expected to seek a new term, are scheduled for August 10, 2027. Both President Ruto and opposition candidates have already held rallies across the country, with more planned in the coming weeks.

Between August 30 and September 9, Human Rights Watch interviewed 22 Kenyans, including nongovernmental organization workers, journalists, a Kenya National Human Rights Commission commissioner, and political opposition members, who said that the recent violence had created a climate of fear around the elections.

On June 12, a group of men violently disrupted a civil society meeting at All Saints’ Cathedral in Nairobi that had been organized to discuss the national budget. Diana Gichengo, the executive director of the Institute for Social Accountability, one of the organizers, said that staff saw about 100 men enter the church, beat participants, and steal their phones and bags.

The police said on June 16 that they had arrested five men in connection with the attack, charging them with “participating in an organized criminal group.”

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, a nongovernmental organization, reported that on June 16, armed, masked men in at least 10 unmarked vehicles lobbed tear gas at crowds and beat and robbed people, including journalists, during by-elections in Ol Kalou, Nyandarua county. Local media outlets reported that the men beat two residents to death.

On July 12, media reported that a group of men armed with machetes and arrows injured several people and killed one person at a church service attended by opposition politicians belonging to Linda Mwananchi (protect the citizen), an opposition movement, at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Kisumu, western Kenya.

Then, on August 16, hundreds of people armed with machetes, guns, and sticks attacked a convoy of vehicles transporting Linda Mwananchi supporters and politicians as they traveled to a planned political rally in Homa Bay town, in western Kenya, killing at least three people. The group beat journalists covering the events and robbed them of personal belongings, including equipment needed to do their work.

Agneta Mwangale, a Linda Mwananchi candidate for parliament in the 2027 elections, said that a group of men stopped the vehicle she was traveling in as part of the convoy, broke its windows, and pulled her, along with two passengers and the driver, out of the vehicle. She said the assailants slashed at them with machetes, killing the male passenger. The men took money and phones from her and the other passengers, then set their vehicle on fire, she said.

Two witnesses said that although police officers were on the roads on the day, they were not able to contain the violence.

Media reported that unidentified people burned a vehicle belonging to another Linda Mwananchi politician, James Orengo, the Siaya county governor, during a rally in Awendo in Migori county on August 30. Orengo posted on X that the unknown people had also “sprayed live bullets” into the car. Media also reported that unidentified people threw a tear gas cannister into the crowd during the same rally.

The next day, an unidentified person threw a tear gas cannister into the crowd during a Linda Mwananchi event in Meru town, injuring one man, a witness said.

Amakove Wala, also running for parliament representing Linda Mwananchi, said the violence could inhibit women, in particular, from participating in the campaigns: “It [the violence] is fashioned to scare people from going for the rallies and speaking up about what happened to them.”

On August 18, the police said they had arrested 27 people in Kisumu and Homa Bay “following the violence witnessed in Homa Bay” and ordered two others to report to the police. They said they would conduct “further investigations” within four days.

However, the police have provided no further information on these cases or other arrests connected to gang attacks, raising concerns about whether the authorities are seriously pursuing accountability. Instead, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, during a speech the week after the violence in Homa Bay, accused opposition politicians of “gathering the goons” the police had arrested.

Human Rights Watch contacted the police spokesperson, Muchiri Nyaga, by phone and messaging application to request an update on these cases but did not receive a response.

Past elections in Kenya have been marred by widespread violence and rights abuses, with the authorities doing little to ensure accountability. Human Rights Watch documented similar gang attacks in Busia and Bungoma counties during and after the March 2013 elections and found that the authorities had failed to adequately investigate or prosecute those responsible.

Kenyan law, including the 2010 Prevention of Organised Crimes Act, places responsibility on the police and the director of public prosecutions to investigate and prosecute those responsible for recruiting, training, and funding gangs. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority is mandated to provide civilian oversight of the police, including holding the police accountable for the performance of their functions.

“The escalating violence so early in the campaign season raises serious concerns about the safety and credibility of the elections,” Kaneza Nantulya said. “Kenya’s international partners should urge President Ruto’s government to act now to prevent further abuses and ensure that the 2027 elections are conducted in an environment where everyone can exercise their political rights freely and safely.”

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