![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thefocuspaper.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260713-WA0029-1024x768.jpg\")
“Even when Raila Odinga was contesting, leaders from across the political divide, including former Presidents Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, visited this region, campaigned freely, addressed our people and left peacefully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never have we witnessed the level of political intolerance that we are witnessing today,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Odinga accused unnamed senior officials of shielding criminal gangs, alleging they operated with the assurance of protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are seeing extortionist gangs becoming so brazen that they demand money from political leaders whenever they hold functions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This impunity is born from the protection they receive from high offices,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Odinga also questioned the effectiveness of a six-point security plan recently announced by Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, saying the church attack occurred less than two weeks after the measures were unveiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She warned that the violence could spread beyond politics, discouraging business activity and undermining public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The people who send you will not visit you in remand, nor raise your children if your life is cut short. You are worth more than what they offer you,” she said, addressing young people whom she said were being recruited into criminal gangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Odinga, who is seeking the Kisumu governorship in 2027, called for the protection of democratic freedoms and urged Kenyans to draw lessons from the country’s 2007 post-election violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Kenya is greater than any individual, and no political ambition should divide us beyond repair,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kisumu Woman Representative Ruth Odinga has warned that escalating political violence and the rise of armed gangs posed a threat to Kenya’s democracy, following a violent attack at a church service in Kisumu. Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s chaos at St. Stephen’s ACK Cathedral, Odinga said armed men carrying machetes and bows and arrows attempted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thefocuspaper.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG-20260713-WA0039.jpg\")