Official statement from the Communist Party Marxist of Kenya (CPM-K):
This morning (10 January), at approximately 3.00am, armed assailants equipped with night vision goggles and firearms violently stormed the residence of Comrade Booker Ngesa Omole.
A fierce exchange of gunfire ensued, during which Comrade Booker and his comrades managed to neutralise one attacker, while seven others fled the scene. The police arrived an hour later, long after the attackers had escaped.
This was not a random criminal act but a deliberate and calculated political assassination attempt on our general secretary, who has been unwavering in his critique of the Kenya Kwanza government.
The attack has the fingerprints of rogue state militias and counter-revolutionary operatives expelled from our party, led by their gang leader Benedict Wachira.
Wachira and his group have repeatedly issued threats and openly boasted of their connections with the criminal Kenya Kwanza regime.
The Communist Party Marxist unequivocally condemns this cowardly attack and demands a thorough, independent investigation to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice.
This is not just an attack on an individual but an assault on the revolutionary movement and the aspirations of the Kenyan people for a just and democratic society.
We affirm our commitment to the safety of our comrades and to defending our leadership against any form of aggression. The party will not be intimidated by such heinous acts.
We stand united and resolute in our struggle for liberation, justice and socialism. Let the enemies of progress be warned: their attempts to silence us will fail. The struggle continues!
Issued by the Central Organising Committee
Communist Party Marxist (CPM) Kenya
10 January 2025
In a further statement on 12 January, the CPM-K wrote:
We take this attempt on the life of our general secretary as a declaration of war by the enemies of the people.
Adding to these acts of repression, our national chairperson, Comrade Mwaivu Kaluka, was violently abducted in Mombasa alongside comrades Lydia Adhiambo and Walid. Their arrest, characterised by brutality and lawlessness, was a deliberate attempt to intimidate our party and disrupt our growing momentum.
While the comrades were released after public outcry and legal intervention, the ordeal reflects the Kenya Kwanza regime’s desperation to suppress dissent.
These attacks are not isolated. They form part of a broader campaign by the state to crush the Communist Party Marxist and the Kenyan people’s struggle for justice, democracy and socialism. Yet, we declare unequivocally: no force can halt the march of the revolution.
Declaring 2025 as a revolutionary year
As we respond to these attacks, we declare 2025 a decisive year in our struggle. Let this year mark:
- A permanent dent to capitalism: We intensify our efforts to dismantle the exploitative capitalist structures and build an economy rooted in justice and equality.
- The year of the national-democratic revolution: We mobilise the masses to advance people’s democracy and achieve national liberation.
- The year for party building: We strengthen the CPM Kenya, deepen ideological clarity, and expand our organisational reach.
- The year to raise the flag of martyrdom higher: Inspired by the spirit of Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi and all freedom fighters, we commit to continuing their struggle for a truly liberated Kenya.
Comrades, the enemies of the people have made their intentions clear. But so have we. No amount of intimidation, violence or repression will deter us. We remain unshaken in our commitment to the liberation of Kenya and the triumph of socialism.
To our enemies: your desperation signals our strength. To our comrades and allies: this is the time to unite, to organise and to intensify the struggle. Together, we will build a Kenya where justice, democracy and equality prevail.
British solidarity
On hearing the news of this heinous attack on a fraternal organisation, communists and anti-imperialists around the world, particularly those involved in the World Anti-imperialist Platform, responded with messages of solidarity and support.
CPGB-ML vice-chair Joti Brar wrote a short message on behalf of our party:
Solidarity to Booker Omole and all the comrades of the Communist Party Marxist of Kenya. We salute your resolve and stand with you, knowing well that this attack is a sign of the fear your work has instilled in the comprador clique who rule Kenya in the interests of imperialism.
We must redouble our efforts to bring an awareness to British workers of the motivations and methods of their own ruling class; their willingness to perpetrate any crime in aid of their continued dominance over the resources and people of the world.
The blood money that still flows from Kenya to Britain is a stain on the honour of the British working class that we must work to remove.
Comrade Ranjeet Brar recorded a short video message reaffirming our party’s solidarity and calling on our Kenyan comrades to guard their revolutionary leadership in the face of imperialist plots to remove them:
We send you our solidarity, our respect, our love and our great admiration for the leadership you are giving to the Kenyan people. But we must also advise you to be cautious.
The imperialists know the value of leadership. And the CPM-K is showing incredible leadership to the people of Kenya against the comprador bourgeois puppet government of William Ruto.
Precisely for that reason, our (British) government, the US government – the imperialists – will not protest. They will not show any sign of disquiet at the assassination attempt that this regime has made upon your life.
But we must tell you to guard your life and the Kenyan people to guard you as the apple of its eye for the same reason. We also know that leadership is so important to the liberation of a people. That’s why the imperialists came for Laurent Kabila. That’s why they came for Patrice Lumumba. That’s why they came for Pio Gama Punto.
So we send you love, respect and solidarity. We wish you well. And we implore your comrades and the Communist Party Marxist of Kenya: Yes, engage in the struggle. Yes, be brave. Yes, be heroic.
But still, guard your leadership as you would the apple of your eye. You need them to navigate this difficult period.
We wish you every success in the liberation of Kenya, comrades.
Our party stands firmly with our targeted comrade, CPM-K general secretary Booker Ngesa Omole. We stand with all the valiant class fighters of the CPM-K, and with the Kenyan masses in their just struggle for national liberation and true sovereignty. We are sure that the tide of history is with them, and that no plots of the imperialists or their local stooges will succeed in turning it back.
This dastardly attempt to once more foil the will of the people serves to highlight the fact that Kenya’s communists are becoming a real force in the country. A force that the comprador elites have every reason to fear.
Victory to the Kenyan people’s national-democratic revolution!
Long live the CPM-K! Long live proletarian internationalism!
