On January 29, 2008, Mugabe Were, who had been elected and had not yet been sworn in as the Embakasi Member of Parliament, was shot and killed outside his home in Woodley Estate, Nairobi, near Kibra.
The slain politician was elected as the Embakasi Legislator under the Orange Democratic Movement Party (ODM).
Were was reportedly shot five times by assailants shortly after 11 p.m. while waiting for the gate to his house to be opened. His widow, Agnes Wairimu, was retiring to bed at the time and heard the gunshots, prompting her to inquire what was happening.
Upon arriving at the gate, she found her husband bleeding heavily and rushed him to Nairobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.
Mugabe Were Assassinated
Once residents of Woodley and the nearby neighborhood, Kibra, learned of Mugabe Were’s death, they gathered outside his home. However, a large contingent of anti-riot police officers was also present, dispersing those who had come to mourn with the family.
This incident occurred just one day after another ODM politician, David Kimutai Too, the newly elected Member of Parliament for the Ainamoi Constituency, was also shot dead. At the time of Were and Too’s deaths, post-election violence was being witnessed across many parts of the country due to the disputed 2007 general elections, during which the Electoral Commission of Kenya declared Mwai Kibaki as the President-Elect.
This outcome was heavily contested by ODM presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his supporters.
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Opposition leaders claimed that the deaths of Were and Too were assassinations, as both occurred within a short period, and they accused the government of using state machinery to weaken the opposition in Parliament, which was the majority.
Raila Odinga called for the police to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the killings and ensure that the culprits were apprehended, alleging that Were’s death was a political assassination.
During a requiem mass held at the Holy Family Basilica, ODM politicians called for justice and urged the government to apprehend those responsible for Were’s death.
Were’s Killers Convicted
Fred Gumo, the Westlands MP at the time, alleged that the death of the Embakasi MP was planned. He stated, “This is a murder that was orchestrated. If government intelligence didn’t know about it, then there is no government.”
His sentiments were echoed by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, who said, “May the deaths of more than 1,000 people who have lost their lives jolt this nation back to its center.”
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Parliament Speaker Kenneth Marende remarked, “We will not tolerate our security forces becoming trigger-happy and doing the opposite of what they are expected to do.”
On February 9, 2015, three men, James Omondi (alias Castro), Wycliffe Walimbwa Simiyu (alias Zimbo), and Paul Otieno (alias Baba)—were found guilty of his murder by a Kenyan court.
The conviction was based on forensic evidence, including fingerprints found on Were’s car and mobile phone records that placed the suspects at the crime scene. The court sentenced them to death.
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