By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 19 May 2026 - Siaya Governor James Orengo has intensified pressure on Kenya’s police watchdog to fast-track investigations into allegations of brutality and unlawful killings during this week’s anti-fuel tax protests, in remarks that sharply escalated the political temperature around the government’s handling of public dissent.
Speaking amid growing national outrage over the violent scenes witnessed during Monday’s demonstrations, Mr Orengo accused security agencies of trampling upon constitutional freedoms and demanded immediate accountability for officers implicated in the crackdown.
“We strongly condemn the act of violation of the Constitution during the peaceful public demonstrations against the escalating price of fuel,” Mr Orengo declared, in a statement laced with both legal indignation and political defiance.
The veteran opposition figure said every Kenyan possessed the constitutional right to assemble, picket and express grievances “without fear of state intimidation or violent suppression”, warning that the country risked sliding into a dangerous era where public protest was increasingly being met with force rather than dialogue.
His intervention comes as pressure mounts on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to respond to mounting allegations of excessive force by police officers deployed during demonstrations sparked by rising fuel costs and deepening economic frustration.
Current reports indicate that at least four people lost their lives during the unrest, with three allegedly shot dead while another was reportedly run over by a police vehicle. Several others sustained serious gunshot injuries in clashes that have reignited concerns over police conduct during civil demonstrations.
Mr Orengo insisted that he would relentlessly pursue the matter until officers found culpable were “arrested immediately and prosecuted” in order to guarantee justice for victims and their families.
In a further broadside, the governor condemned attacks on journalists covering the protests, arguing that intimidation of the press undermined democratic accountability.
“These actions erode public trust in law enforcement,” he said.
Yet even as he condemned police conduct, Mr Orengo also appealed for restraint among demonstrators, urging protesters to remain peaceful and law-abiding despite mounting anger over the cost of living.
“Acts of violence, looting and destruction of property must be avoided at all costs,” he cautioned.
But beneath the calls for calm lay a broader political message aimed squarely at President William Ruto’s administration. In emotionally charged remarks, Mr Orengo vowed to continue championing the grievances of ordinary Kenyans despite what he described as growing state intimidation.
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“I won’t allow Raila Odinga’s hard-earned legacy to go to waste because he is no more,” he said, portraying himself and fellow opposition figures as custodians of a political struggle against economic hardship and state excess.
The governor also widened the debate beyond police conduct to Kenya’s worsening debt burden and soaring living costs, arguing that economic pressures lay at the heart of the demonstrations.
Citing figures from the National Treasury bulletin, Mr Orengo warned that Kenya’s public debt had surged to KSh12.8 trillion by the end of February 2026, pushing the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 70%.
“This poses a severe threat to national macroeconomic stability,” he warned.
He called upon the government to implement urgent fiscal interventions aimed at lowering fuel prices and easing pressure on struggling households. Among his proposals was a reduction of diesel prices by KSh 54 through the removal of recently increased levies, alongside a KSh 7 reduction in petrol prices.
“The government, by simply reducing wastage, should direct a subsidy of KSh 5 billion for diesel,” Mr Orengo argued.
He dismissed the government’s recent KSh10 fuel levy reduction as “a joke of the highest order”, accusing the administration of pursuing what he termed “hoodwinking economics” while ordinary citizens continued to buckle under mounting taxation.
The remarks are likely to deepen an already fraught political confrontation over the cost of living, public debt and the state’s response to dissent — issues that increasingly threaten to dominate Kenya’s political landscape in the months ahead.
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