A Kenyan lawmaker was gunned down on a busy Nairobi road by a motorcycle-riding murderer on Wednesday night, in what the police described as a “focused and premeditated” assault.
The lawmaker, Charles Had been, who was serving a second time period in Parliament, was in a car stopped at a site visitors mild when he was killed, the police mentioned. Witnesses reported that an individual using on the again of a bike had hopped off and shot into the passenger aspect of Mr. Had been’s automotive earlier than being whisked away by the bike’s driver, the police mentioned.
A motive was not instantly clear. Muchiri Nyaga, a police spokesman, mentioned in a assertion on Wednesday that it was too early for the authorities to supply extra particulars.
President William Ruto of Kenya referred to as on the police to “conduct a radical investigation” and expressed his condolences to Mr. Had been’s household. “These accountable should be held to account,” he mentioned in a press release on Thursday.
The police mentioned the driving force and one other passenger within the automotive have been unhurt within the capturing and rapidly drove Mr. Had been to Nairobi Hospital, the place he was pronounced lifeless upon arrival.
Mr. Had been was re-elected to Parliament in 2022 as a member of the Orange Democratic Motion, the opposition occasion led by Raila Odinga, Mr. Ruto’s important rival within the earlier normal election.
Mr. Odinga, in a assertion on Thursday, in contrast the daytime capturing to “a gangland-style execution” that was “shockingly barbaric.”
Kenya has a fame as a comparatively secure nation in a unstable area. Frustration with the federal government hit a brand new excessive final 12 months throughout lethal protests in opposition to a tax improve. Dozens of individuals have been kidnapped or arbitrarily detained by safety forces, in keeping with activists and human rights teams.
Mr. Ruto promoted the tax improve as a needed measure to curb the nation’s staggering debt.
A rich businessman who grew up poor, Mr. Ruto campaigned on a platform of bettering the economic system for Kenyans. His critics say that had not occurred.
Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting.