Reverend Julius Ndumia Ngari (left) Fr John Maina and Fr Alois Cheruiyot Bett.
With his dying breath, Fr John Maina begged a bodaboda rider along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway for help, revealing that he had been poisoned and needed medical assistance.
The Catholic priest, then stationed at Igwamiti Parish in Nyahururu, died shortly after being ferried to St Joseph Medical Centre, where he also told doctors that he had been poisoned.
Catholic Priest Father John Maina from Nyandarua was brutally murdered, dying from multiple gunshot wounds.
While no conclusive postmortem report was ever drafted, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said that the bruises on Fr Maina’s arms and head were not severe enough to have killed the clergyman.
Just two weeks before his death on May 15, 2025, Fr Maina had attended the ordination of another priest at Igwamiti Parish, which was also celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Several politicians, including former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, attended that function and contributed over Sh400,000.
A police officer privy to the murder investigation said that another priest stationed at Igwamiti recorded a statement indicating that Fr Maina had raised concerns about his safety after receiving strange calls.
The priest’s statement further indicated that Fr Maina had said that some of the callers thought that the contributions totaled Sh4 million, hence they demanded half of that amount.
Investigators now believe that Fr Maina had a second phone, which could offer more leads to the murder when found and taken through forensic examination.
So far, there have been no arrests, with investigators recording at least six statements.
Just 11 days to the first anniversary of Fr Maina’s death, an unidentified individual called Reverend Julius Ndumia Ngari of PCEA Tabuga parish in Nakuru County, stating that he had a cash delivery for the man of the cloth.
Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), Tabuga Church in Bahati, Nakuru County where Rev Julius Ndumia (inset) was found murdered in his house on May 4, 2026.
Reverend Ngari was leading renovations in the Tabuga parish, and an influential politician had asked the man to deliver an undisclosed amount of money to the church leader.
On the night of Reverend Ndumia’s murder, thugs disguised as police officers attacked Ndumia at his house at PCEA, Tabuga Parish.
Police said on the night of the attack, four men armed with crude weapons broke into the church compound and killed the clergyman.
Reverend Ngari was killed in the raid.
Investigators now believe that Reverend Ngari knew his killers.
Police arrested two suspects in May, and another two earlier this month. Two suspects, who investigators believe were part of the murder plot, are still on the run.
Two of the suspects arrested last month allegedly withdrew Sh60,000 from Reverend Ngari’s mobile money wallet after the killing.
One of the missing suspects is a recovering alcoholic whom Reverend Ngari aided in tough times. The clergyman, an investigator told the Nation, would also hire the man for casual jobs within the church.
The second suspect is the man investigators say delivered the politician’s donation.
An officer privy to the probe said that forensic analysis of several mobile phones indicates that all six suspects were in constant communication with each other on the fateful day, before and after the raid that claimed Reverend Ngari’s life.
Fr Maina and Reverend Ndumia are just two cases of a growing trend, where clergymen are increasingly losing their lives to disputes or incidents stemming from political events or associations.
In some instances, criminals target politicians who have received huge donations from other politicians. In other instances, the church leaders are attacked on account of perceived links or associations with political leaders or formations.
Church and Clergy Association of Kenya spokesperson Hudson Ndeda called on the government to expedite investigations into the reported cases of murder.
In reference to the January 25, 2026 police raid on Witima ACK Church in Nyeri County, where opposition leaders were in attendance, Bishop Ndeda called for the government to take action on security officers who attack churches and other places of worship.
Before the Witima incident, a gang attacked congregants on November 30, 2025, during a thanksgiving service for Mr Gachagua, with President William Ruto then ordering a crackdown on political gangs.
For Bishop Ndeda, those attacks also pose a threat to clergymen and congregants, and could claim lives.
“It is a very worrying trend. Churches are sacred places, and when criminals turn on men of God, then things are very bad. It portrays a moral decay in our nation. It is worse when we don’t get justice, and these cases just end up dying in the police station,” Bishop Ndeda said.
The National Police Service, through spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga, said that investigations will be concluded into the killings and suspects prosecuted.
“We will investigate all cases that have been reported to us and make sure that those culpable have their day in court. At the same time, religious leaders need not be worried. We will make sure that churches remain a sacred place where no crimes will be committed. These few incidents should not be made to look like the church is under attack,” Mr Nyaga said.
On May 22, 2025, Fr Alois Cheruiyot Bett was shot dead by armed bandits in Kerio Valley just a kilometre from the area police station.
The late Father Allois Cheruiyot Bett.
The priest had just concluded a Christian community Mass in Kakbiken village and was heading back to his base in Tot at around 2.30pm when he and a catechist were attacked by the gunmen.
Read: Nyandarua priest was poisoned, say bishops as fresh details emerge on murdered Kerio Valley priest
Elgeyo Marakwet County Police Commander Peter Mulinge at the time said the priest was killed by bandits who may have mistaken him for a spy.
“He was returning from prayers and was attacked on his way by people suspected to be bandits,” the police chief said.
At the time of his murder, there was heightened tension between two rival communities in the region. Police believe that the killers of Father Alois thought he was spying for the rival community.
To date, according to police sources, no one has been arrested over this murder, even as the government intensifies a crackdown on banditry in the Rift Valley.
In Kirinyaga County, Bishop Simon Wachira of Ambassadors for Christ Ministry Church lost his homestead after residents burned it down in what police now believe was politically motivated.
Ciagini residents accused the clergyman of hiring thugs for a retaliatory attack on 30-year-old Martin Kara, who had allegedly stolen a 90-kilogram bag of rice from the Bishop’s homestead.
The villagers overwhelmed police officers who responded to an alarm raised in the homestead.
The three men allegedly beat Mr Kara to death.
After his house was burned down, Bishop Wachira fled. Police are awaiting his return, so that Bishop Wachira can record a statement to be used in the probe into Mr Kara’s death.
Interestingly, Bishop Wachira has not filed a complaint with the police on the arson incident.
The investigation into Mr Kara’s death has now taken a strange twist.
Investigators have recorded statements from some residents, who now claim that Mr Kara’s death may have been a red herring, and that those who burned down the house were allegedly settling a political score.
The clergyman, some of the residents told investigators, is a close ally of a powerful local politician with supporters and critics in equal measure.
Those residents further claimed that Bishop Wachira started to draw dislike from sections of the community, after allegedly using the pulpit to market the government official’s political stand.
Mr Kara’s death, they told investigators, became an opportunity to attack the clergyman and mask it as a reaction to the incident.
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