By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The killing of a Kenyan Member of Parliament by a gunman riding on a motorcycle in the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday evening appeared to be targeted and premeditated, police have said.
Charles Were, the lawmaker representing Kasipul constituency in Kenya’s west, was shot dead at around 7:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) when his vehicle was stopped at a traffic light on Ngong Road, a statement released by the police on Wednesday said.
He was a member of the opposition ODM party, led by former Prime Minister and veteran opposition figure Raila Odinga, who lost the 2022 presidential election to William Ruto.
According to an eyewitness account, the suspect was riding as a passenger on a motorcycle that stopped alongside the car, the statement added.
“The pillion passenger approached the vehicle and fired shots at the passenger side before jumping back onto the motorcycle and speeding away,” police said. “The nature of this crime appears to be both targeted and premeditated.”
“Were is no more; mercilessly and in cold blood, gunned down by an assassin in Nairobi this evening,” opposition leader Odinga wrote on X late Wednesday.
In Kenya, seen as a relatively stable democracy, politically motivated killings are rare, despite a number of civil unrests in recent years.
Meanwhile, in a post on X, President Ruto condemned the killing, ordering the police to conduct a thorough investigation.
