Senators want President William Ruto’s government to form a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the rampant killings of Catholic priests in the country.

This is even as they accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of going silent over the murder of Father Allois Bett by suspected bandits.

Senate Majority Whip Boni Khalwale (Kakamega) raised the alarm, charging that a Commission of Inquiry must be established to look into the killings.

According to Khalwale, there have been increased cases of murder of Catholic priests in the country, citing the deaths of Fr Bett and Fr John Maina (2025), Fr. Michael Siendo in 2019 Fr. John Njoroge Maina in 2018; Fr. Evans Oduor in 2017, and Fr. Eutychus Muthuri of Meru in 2019.

Hands of criminals

Fr. Martin Macharia Njoroge in 2003, Bishop Luigi Locati in 2005 and Fr John Anthony Kaiser in 2000 are also some of the clergy who have lost their lives at the hands of criminals.

“It cannot be by chance that whenever priests are murdered, a theory is thrown around in the media that they have committed suicide. As a Catholic who was born and bred in a Catholic family, I demand that there be an inquiry,” Khalwale said.

The Kakamega lawmaker further charged that apart from Fr Locati, where investigations were done and a priest was arrested, convicted and is now serving a jail term, other cases have not yielded any meaningful results.

Fr Bett was from St Matthias Lumumba Catholic Church in Tot Parish in Elgeyo Marakwet County but hailed from Kilibwoni in Nandi County.

He was ambushed and shot dead on May 22, 2025, after he had just concluded a Jumuia Mass or a small Christian community meeting at Kabien Village and was headed back to his base in Tot Parish.

Commission of inquiry

“Where it has reached, we must call for and form a commission of inquiry into the killings of Catholic priests,” Khalwale stated.

Taking a cue, Edwin Sifuna (Nairobi) said the Catholic church has endured traumatic experiences over the past 20 years, decrying that just days before the killing of Fr Bett, Father John Ndegwa Maina of Igwamiti Parish in Nyandarua was found with multiple gunshot wounds.

“The most distressing aspect is that no arrests have been made. The public is keenly observing how security forces handle individual cases,” Sifuna remarked.

“At times, it seems that when a prominent person is involved, investigations are expedited and action is taken swiftly. However, days have passed, and no one has been arrested for the shooting of this priest in Tot,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho) decried why there is no urgency to investigate the killing, as is applied when the victim is a “big person” in the country.

Instead, he wondered why it was difficult to take action and bring the perpetrators to book, yet the name of Fr Bett’s killer is known.

“We must see that level of speed, seriousness and commitment in investigating Father Bett’s murder. In the past few months, we have received reports of killings, so much so that the country seems to have grown accustomed to them, treating them as just another piece of news,” Cheruiyot said.