The Series Murders of Catholic Priests in Kenya
- Editorial
- Jun 2
- 5 min read
By Njeri Mickeydan Kioko
Headaching questions about the series of mysterious deaths of catholic priests are still arising following the recent murders of catholic priests within one week.
Catholic Priest Alois Cheruiyot Betty was shot by several gunmen at the end of Mass on 22nd May 2025 in the village of Kakbiken in the Elgeyo Marakwet County in ten Western Highlands of Kenya. Kenyan police said they have arrested six people in connection with the priest's murder.Earlier, Bishop John Lelei, who is the assistant bishop at the Eldoret Diocese, he'd termed Fr Betty's killing unfortunate. "The priest was on his mission of spreading the Gospel when he was shot dead by an unknown assailant," Bishop Lelei said of Fr Betty, who was attached to the Tot Catholic Parish in Marakwet East.
On 15th May 2025, Fr John Ndegwa Maina, parish priest of St Louis Parish in Igwamiti, aged 43 died in hospital after being found seriously injured on the side of Nakuru - Nairobi highway, several kilometres from his parish. He later died at St Joseph's Mission Hospital. The priest reportedly told the taxi driver who found him that he had been kidnapped in Nyahururu. According to the DCI(Directorate of Criminal Investigation), Fr Maina may have been attacked by thieves demanding part of a donation the priest received from former Vice president Rigathi Gachagua during a church service on April 27th. The priest had reportedly expressed concern about the threats to his safety but had not officially reported them to the authorities.
Investigations are still ongoing as detectives are trying to figure out whether he was poisoned, assaulted, shot at, or if all three were executed at once. However there are critiques that his death was in connection with politics cause he died two weeks after hosting former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who is currently seeming to pose a threat to the current government as he has become an opposition leader after being impeached.
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, through its Justice and Peace Department, posted on X on Thursday 22nd May 2025 that the two deaths are "a tragic loss to the church and nation." "We call for urgent government action to ensure justice, safety and end to impunity."
Are these murders emerging because most of the Catholic Priests are resisting to collaborate with the current government? Is is because some of them are denying donations from government officials? The answers are still not clearly whether they're black or white. But following the below research I've done maybe we can join the dots and be able to trace some answers. According to the research we see this issues isn't a new thing, it has been happening the previous years - it's like history is repeating itself. Some priests have been killed in circumstances that touched on matters of the heart or other personal issues.
In 2019 October, Fr Michael Kyendo, also died. He was seen driving before he went missing and his body was found a week later stuffed in a gunny bag with the throat slit. His body had been buried in a shallow grave. Three suspects were charged over the death, and one of them claimed in court that the priest had been assaulting them.
A few months earlier, Fr Eutycas Murangiri Muthuri, who was based at the Limbine Parish, was stabbed to death in Meru. The June 2019 murder af the 35-year-old saw two suspects charged, but they were later acquitted. After the murder, a woman claiming to be in a relationship with the priest came to speak about their relationship, which was published in a local tabloid. The woman said the priest left a room they had booked that night and never returned.
On December 10, 2018, another gruesome killing of a priest happened, where Fr John Njoroge Muhia was shot dead by robbers near his parish as he was taking Sunday Mass offerings to the bank. A gunman on a motorcycle blocked his car near Kinoo, shot through the windscreen and hit the priest, then made away with the collection.
This mirrored a 2003 incident where Fr Martin Macharia Njoroge, who was based at Francis Xavier Parklands, was shot dead and his car stolen in Zimmerman. The Archbishop of Nairobi back then, the late Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki, said the assailants dragged Fr Njoroge from his car and shot him four times at a close range. "He did not resist them, but apparently even handed over the keys to his car, which the bandits left 500 metres away. His body was left on the ground then found by a Good Samaritan who took him to the hospital," Mwana'a Nzeki told the Missionary News Service.
In October 2017, residents of Kisumu were treated to a ghastly sight when Fr Evans Juma Oduor was killed near Chiga Market after sustaining serious hard injuries. His car was found about 5 kilometres away and had been set ablaze. Until his death, Fr Oduor was priest in charge of the Nyahondo Catholic Parish in Muhoroni.
In 2005, a highly controversial killing of a relate happened, it saw Italian bishop Luigi Location shot dead in Isiolo. Then aged 76,he was gunned down as he walked to his station. "Just a few hours earlier, Bishop Luigi had been one of the signatories of a statement issued by the Kenyan Bishop's Conference appealing for peace after ethnic violence in the region claimed more than 70 lives," the Independent Catholic News reported. Nine years after the Bishop's murder, a catholic priest and four accomplices were sentenced to death. The then High Court judge Fred Ochieng found that Fr Guyo Wako Alley, one of the five convicts, had hatched the plan to kill the bishop Location, bankrolled the entire plot, which included buying firearms, recruiting people to execute the bishop, and storing and transporting the guns.
In 2000, one of Kenya's most controversial priest death occurred. It involved Fr John Antony Kaiser, who was found dead on August 23rd, 2000,with his shot gun lying beside him while his pickup truck was about 10 metres away in a ditch. He had been shot in the back of the head. Investigations by the police and by America's Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that Fr Kaiser committed suicide. However, there were lingering questions, because he was an outspoken critic of president Moi and had lived in Kenya for 36 years. Further compounding the mystery was a manuscript he had written about his life in Kenya, published after his death under the title "If I Die."
Despite all this research, people still have questions and they're hopeful the answers will be unveiled sooner or later. These deaths have also rise tension mostly to people who are aspiring to join religious life and become catholic priests. In future, is there going to be any catholic priests and their safety is not guaranteed? Who will dare allow his/her son become a catholic priest knowing to well his/her son may return in a casket?
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