Martha Karua, leader of the People Liberation Party (PLP), has called on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to take serious action against officers involved in the violent attack on opposition figures on July 27, 2025.
Speaking at the United Opposition Press Conference on Thursday, July 31, at Liberation House, Karua condemned the attack, likening it to an attempt on the leaders' lives.
According to Karua, the leaders — who included senators and MPs allied to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua — were not engaged in criminal activity; they were merely exercising their right to freedom of expression.
"We met by the violence of police bullets and sponsored militia, specific members of our team. Specific members of our team were targeted for assassination. The evidence is clear in the bullet holes and the specific windshields of their vehicles. Their only crime had to be exercising their freedom of association and expression,” she said.
She alleged that this was not an accident, but a deliberate criminal assault. She also clarified that she had since presented the evidence to the IPOA.
"We urged IPOA to treat this evidence with the great concern that it deserves. Any attempt to unlawfully take the life of a human being, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or rank, ought to be condemned in the strongest terms possible."
Nyandarua County Senator John Methu narrated on July 27 that the attack in Muranga was an attempt on the lives of the members of the opposition attending a church service in Kigumo Constituency alongside other allies of Gachagua.
"What has happened to us today is honestly an attempt at assassination of the members of the team, members of the opposition. The kind of force that has been used by the National Police Service is not only excessive but also extreme," he said.
Methu narrated that his vehicles were completely damaged, allegedly by the National Police Service during the event.
"The kind of damage that has happened on vehicles were are using today has never been seen. I have been in politics since we were impeached in October of 2024. I have been moving around even last week on Sunday. We were being tear-gassed by the police. But the kind of force that has been used on us today," he explained.
The opposition has urged IPOA to hold all the officers accountable, demanding that those in charge be held fully responsible.
"We therefore urged IPOA to hold the officer who led this assault accountable. The Inspector General Douglas Kanja and Murkomen must be held accountable, and the backstops with them. We can no longer allow present criminal acts and subversion of criminal law because of orders from above. We are saying enough is enough,” Karua said.
