Three young men walked out of court this week as free men, not because they were found innocent, but because the church they attacked chose forgiveness over prosecution. George Omondi, Effernburg Wanyama, and Fredrick Omondi had spent three months in remand — unable to raise Ksh.300,000 bail — for their roles in the June 12 attack on All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi. The Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the charges on Thursday after the cathedral’s leadership formally requested it. But even as the church extended grace, its Provost pointed a damning finger at two sitting Members of Parliament, accusing them of orchestrating the entire attack.
What Happened in Court
The three accused showed up on Thursday expecting a hearing. What they got instead was a withdrawal. The prosecution applied to drop the case, backed by two complainants who took the witness stand in support. The first, a victim whose phone was stolen during the attack, told the court he had already been compensated and no longer wished to pursue the matter — he asked the court to give the three men a second chance. The second witness, All Saints Cathedral Head of Security Philemon Samoei, made the church’s position unambiguous: forgiveness, not punishment, was the chosen path. “It was in the interest of the church that, because the church speaks about forgiveness, the church wishes to withdraw this matter,” Samoei told the court. The three men were subsequently acquitted.
From the courthouse, the families went directly to All Saints Cathedral, where they met with Provost Evans Omollo. His message was clear and generous. “We have wholeheartedly forgiven the suspects who were the perpetrators of this act,” he said. The church has also committed to actively supporting the three men as they rebuild their lives and become, in the cathedral’s own framing, peace champions in their communities. That is a remarkable posture — and one that deserves to be taken seriously, not dismissed as naive.
The Real Warning Hidden in the Forgiveness
Here is where the story stops being a feel-good narrative and becomes something far more urgent. Even as Provost Omollo extended forgiveness to the three young men, he named a much more powerful set of actors — ones who will face no court, no bail, and no three months in remand. He accused two Nairobi MPs and four MCAs, two from Mathare Constituency and two from Dagoretti North Constituency, of planning and executing the attack. “We can confirm that politicians were at the very heart of this attack,” he said, without flinching. He also alleged that senior politicians interfered with investigations after two other suspects were released earlier in the case.
This is not a small claim. This is a sitting provost of one of Kenya’s most prominent churches, on record, accusing elected officials of mobilising young men as foot soldiers for political violence — and then abandoning them when the consequences arrived. The three men who sat in remand for three months could not raise Ksh.300,000. The politicians who allegedly sent them there faced nothing. That asymmetry is the story.
A Message Every Young Kenyan Needs to Hear
Effernburg’s brother Eric Wanyama said something raw and real outside the courthouse that cut through everything: “Mayouth tunaelekea elections, kuwa wise. Unajua hii ndiyo generation inafaa kumake change, but one mistake, hata kama hukuwa hapo, the way things happen, maze utapatikana kwa ngori and that’s it.” That is not just a personal warning — it is a political education compressed into one sentence. You can be used, implicated, and left to rot, while the person who gave the order goes back to their office.
Provost Omollo drove the same point home with language that should alarm anyone paying attention. “They’re building a script that, if not addressed, the political class are running away with a very evil behaviour of mobilising younger people, converting them to goons and gangs, and that portends a serious danger for us as a country,” he said. With elections approaching, that warning is not abstract — it is a countdown.
Key Takeaways From This Case
The church forgave. The young men are free. But the politicians Provost Omollo named are still in their seats, unnamed in any charge sheet, untouched by any consequence. If Kenya’s young, politically engaged generation takes one thing from this story, let it be this: the people who recruit you will not show up for your bail hearing. Know your worth before someone else decides it for you.
