Nairobi — "We demand a deep inquiry into these deaths, to reveal the real circumstances and motives, to ensure the security and safety of our priests and all Kenyans in the future". This was requested by Monsignor Maurice Muhatia Makumba, Archbishop of Kisumu and President of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), following the murder of two Catholic priests just days apart.

Father John Ndegwa Maina, parish priest of the church of St Louis in Igwamiti, died in hospital on May 15, from suspected poisoning after being found in serious condition, but still alive, on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway (see Fides, 21/5/2025).

Before his death, the priest said he had been kidnapped by unknown assailants. Bishop Makumba called it "a horrible murder and cries out to God against its perpetrators".

On May 22, Father Alloyce Cheruiyot Bett was shot dead after being attacked by bandits in the Kerio Valley, in Elgeyo Marakwet (see Fides, 23/5/2025). "We are deeply shocked by the fact that both deaths appear to have been caused by malicious intent and under mysterious circumstances. We wish to decry the deaths of these ministers of God and the sense of insecurity and helplessness created by such incidents against the servants of God," he remarked.

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The KCCB President then expressed the Kenyan Bishops' "deep dismay" "by how cheap life has become, where murders and deaths are taken lightly, and used carelessly for political expediency".

"The work carried out by our Catholic priests goes beyond the service of religion and evangelisation. It reaches out to caring for the marginalised, the forgotten and the sick, to bring them hope that does not disappoint", concluded Msgr. Makumba.