By GEOFREY KASERA: Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has also condemned yesterday’s ugly violence at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Kisumu, calling for immediate calm and declaring that the lakeside city will not tolerate any forms of political lawlessness or goonism.

Echoing the Governor’s stance, Kisumu Deputy Governor Dr Mathew Owili, CBS, issued a statement expressing profound shock and deep sadness over the violent disruption and targeted assault on Siaya Governor James Orengo and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.

Dr Owili termed the attack on the two leaders an affront to everything the community and the nation stand for.

He reminded residents that Kisumu city has historically been revered as a bastion of democracy, a place where brave lives were lost in the painful, arduous quest to expand Kenya’s democratic space.

“We carry a heavy, sacred debt to those who bled for the freedoms we enjoy today,” Dr Owili stated.

“I shudder at the thought of us, the political class, killing everything Baba, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, stood and fought for his entire life. The events in Kisumu yesterday, where crude-weapon-wielding goons attacked people in a house of worship, represent the absolute lowest we can go as a nation.”

The Deputy Governor strongly denounced the desecration of the sanctuary, emphasizing that while political differences have a place in a democracy, hired thuggery and physical violence do not.

He warned that such backward behavior threatens to dismantle the very foundation of democratic tolerance built through decades of sacrifice.

Consequently, the county leadership has called upon relevant security agencies to investigate the incident swiftly, apprehend the perpetrators, and ensure that those who organized the heinous act face the full force of the law to halt a dangerous slide into lawlessness.