Teargas and a Torched Car Mark Fresh Attacks on Linda Mwananchi Rallies
September 2026
Siaya Governor James Orengo was teargassed during a Linda Mwananchi rally in Migori town on Saturday, August 29, 2026, and had to retreat into his vehicle as the gathering descended into chaos. His convoy was then attacked further along the road, with a vehicle torched in Awendo.
Witnesses described a white Land Cruiser carrying Orengo’s team weaving through clouds of teargas as supporters scattered off the road to safety, in what became yet another reported attack on the Linda Mwananchi convoy in Nyanza. Orengo condemned the disruption but insisted the movement would not be shaken.
Speaking after the incident, Orengo said, “The party should not impose candidates on anybody,” arguing that Kenyans should be free to choose which party to contest under. Opposition leaders later called for a formal investigation into who was behind the Migori attack.
Meru Rally Disrupted
The very next day, on Sunday, August 30, police lobbed teargas at a Linda Mwananchi gathering in Makutano, Meru County, briefly scattering a crowd that included Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and other opposition figures. The meeting had barely settled when canisters landed near the crowd.
The Meru engagement was hosted by former Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza, who had endorsed Sifuna for the 2027 presidential race, with Embakasi East MP Babu Owino also in attendance. The rally resumed once the smoke cleared, and Sifuna refused to be rattled.
“Hakuna siku tear gas itamaliza mkutano wa Linda Mwananchi,” Sifuna told supporters as canisters kept landing nearby, a line that roughly means the gas will never end a Linda Mwananchi meeting. The Meru stop was part of a wider grassroots push the movement has been running ahead of the next General Election.
Who Threw The Teargas
Not everyone agrees on who is responsible. Orange Democratic Movement strategist Fred Okango argued that “those tear gas canisters are not coming from the police”, saying Linda Mwananchi’s own leaders had failed to spot officers at the scene of some incidents.
Okango pressed both the movement and security agencies to establish exactly who was throwing the canisters, saying political violence deserved condemnation no matter which side it hurt. Other reports on the Meru disruption, however, describe the teargas as coming directly from police officers deployed at the scene, so the two accounts do not fully agree on where the gas came from.
Road To 2027 Concerns
The back-to-back disruptions matter because they test a promise President William Ruto has made repeatedly. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen had recently directed security agencies to act against people facilitating political goonism before violence breaks out, telling police and detectives to move early rather than after the fact.
Analysts covering the Meru incident note it could work against Ruto’s own messaging, since it gives his critics a fresh chance to ask whether his pledges on political freedom are holding up on the ground. The Migori and Meru incidents follow an earlier, more violent flashpoint in Homa Bay on August 16, when unrest during a Linda Mwananchi tour left two people dead, including a police officer.
Linda Mwananchi has said it intends to keep holding rallies across the country regardless of the disruptions, pressing on with its mobilisation drive ahead of the 2027 General Election. Whether Kenyan authorities can pin down who is actually lobbing the teargas at these events remains an open question, and it is one that opposition leaders and ODM’s own strategists cannot yet agree on.
