President Willian Ruto urged police to conduct a “through investigation” and said Thursday that those responsible “must be held to account.”
Were was in the company of his driver and bodyguard when a motorcycle taxi approached their car, and a passenger disembarked and approached their car before firing at the MP, police said in a statement.
The legislator was reelected in 2022 to represent Kasipul constituency in western Kenya for the Orange Democratic Movement party.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga described Were as a “gallant son of the soil.”
Odinga was President Ruto’s main challenger in the 2022 general election.
Political tensions in Kenya have simmed down since last year, when the country saw a series of opposition-backed anti-government protests during which dozens of people died. Ruto later appointed members of Odinga's party to the cabinet and the two leaders signed a political pact in March this year.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP