Months after the summer 2025 Kenyan working class uprising against its government, an episode in which 120 people were murdered by the state, repression against left activists has not let up as the Communist Party Marxist – Kenya (CPM-K) has seen leading members, including its general secretary, Booker Ngesa Omole, arrested, detained, and brutalised. Omole’s treatment is part of a broader campaign of repression aimed at silencing militant opposition to President William Ruto’s anti-working class, imperialist-backed government.
Omole was seized on the night of 23 February in Isiolo by 20 armed plainclothes officers. According to the CPM-K, the officers failed to identify themselves and provided no warrant. Omole was beaten, dragged between locations overnight and held incomunicado before being taken to a police station near Nairobi. He suffered severe injuries, including a broken arm and a shattered tooth. During the savage beatings, the police accused Omole of being the head of a narco-trafficking ring, insisting that this could be the only reason that anyone would demonstrate in front of the US Embassy on behalf of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s kidnapped president. To this, the CPM-K publicly declared, ‘Linking Booker to a “drug cartel” is pure political theatre. His only link to Venezuela is solidarity with Nicolás Maduro. Internationalism is not narcotics. Anti-imperialism is not a crime. When the state lacks evidence, it manufactures lies’.
When he was finally produced in court more than a day later, Omole appeared with visible injuries and a bandaged arm. Despite his condition, the court shamelessly denied him urgent medical treatment and refused bail, ordering his transfer to Kitengela Remand Prison which is notoriously run-down and overcrowded.
Omole stands accused of possession of cannabis, assaulting a police officer, and illegal possession of a firearm; fabricated charges meant to justify his criminalisation. On 3 March, after nearly two weeks behind bars, Kenya’s politically supine courts bowed under the international outcry over Omole’s illegal detention and granted him bail. The terms of his bail, however, were deliberately designed to bleed Omole and his comrades: his bond was set at 500,000 Kenyan shillings, nearly £3,000. To contrast, average monthly salaries in Kenya range from 30,000 to 100,000 Kenyan shillings (£174-£581). As Omole was released on bail, three more CPM-K members and other progressive activists were arrested by the Ruto government. The party members were detained while simply attempting to submit a petition against extrajudicial killings.
Evidence presented in court began to unravel from Omole’s first pre-trial hearing held on 9 March, with a key complainant withdrawing statements and alleging police pressure to testify. Major contradictions in the police’s narrative have exposed the ordeal as a political attack. The CPM-K is already preparing to file a case for wrongful prosecution and detention.
This repression is part and parcel of the Kenyan government’s strategy for forcing through a pro-austerity, pro-IMF, neocolonial agenda while suppressing resistance. Kenya has experienced mounting social tensions amid soaring living costs, austerity policies and anger at police brutality. Mass spontaneous protests led largely by youth and workers in recent years have shaken the political establishment, threatening the interests of the Kenyan comprador class. In Omole’s words, ‘crackdown against our party will only intensify as we grow in strength. The task we face today is to build a revolutionary organisation, capable of fighting back.’
Drop the charges against Booker Omole! End state repression!
