Two Men Died at a UDA Meeting in Embu. What We Know.

Two young men died of gunshot wounds on Saturday 12 September 2026 when police clashed with youths outside a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) delegates' meeting at Nembure, in Embu County. Deputy President Kithure Kindiki was chairing the meeting inside. Postmortems carried out later that week found that Moses Munene, 30, was shot in the head and Mike Lewis Macharia, 23, in the right leg. As of 23 September 2026 nobody had been charged over the shootings, and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) was investigating.

What happened at Nembure

The meeting was a closed one for UDA polling-centre officials from across Embu. The Nation put the number inside at more than 20,000. Cecily Mbarire (Governor, Embu) was there with Kindiki.

Trouble began at the gates. According to the Nation's report that evening, youths tried to storm the stadium, riot police pushed them back with teargas, and running battles went on for several hours while Kindiki kept speaking. After the meeting the youths regrouped and spilled onto the road, attacking drivers and setting vehicles alight. One of the burnt cars belonged to Royal Media journalist Edward Murimi.

Embu West police commander Vincent Kitili told the Nation that night: "What I know is that we took one body to the mortuary. Six vehicles were also torched and three others vandalised." Early casualty reports conflicted, and some outlets said two people were feared dead. By the end of the week two deaths were confirmed. Eastern regional police commander Stephen Chebet later said three police officers were among the injured, The Star reported.

Police said the trouble started when people who had not been invited tried to force their way into the meeting.

Who the two men were

Munene came from Mutunduri in Manyatta constituency and was on his way to work when the violence broke out. The Star described him as a boda boda operator; a caption in the same report, and other outlets, called him a mechanic. Lewis was a footballer and college student who had gone to play near Nembure. Their families say neither took part in the confrontation.

The postmortems were done at Embu Level Five Hospital by Dr Rosemary Kamau for the government and Dr Job Mwali for the Independent Medico-Legal Unit. Kamau's finding on Munene: "severe head injury secondary to a single penetrating gunshot wound to the head." On Lewis she found "severe haemorrhage secondary to compound right femur fracture as a result of a single penetrating gunshot wound," The Star reported on 18 September. Both bullets passed through, so neither was recovered.

Witnesses told The Star that police fired into the crowd. That is the question the investigation has to answer, because a bullet that is not recovered cannot be matched to a gun. "We want to know who shot our children and why. We want justice," a family member said.

The arrests and the investigation

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested two suspects on Sunday 13 September and a third on Monday 14 September in the Kithimu area of Embu town, The Star reported. "Political differences must never become a licence for lawlessness," the DCI said. KDRTV later named two arraigned suspects as Brian Kariuki and Kelvin Mugendi and reported that neither had yet taken a plea. Those arrests concern the rioting and the burning of vehicles. None relates to the shots that killed the two men.

That part belongs to IPOA. Commissioner John Muchiri said investigators were taking witness statements and examining police firearm-discharge records from the day. "If we find any police to have used excessive force, then those responsible will be held accountable," he said. KDRTV reported that IPOA gave itself 60 days before handing its findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Which agency handles which kind of election violence is set out in what counts as an election offence, and who investigates.

Who is being blamed

Kindiki blamed the opposition on the day. "The opposition are using youths to try and mess up my meeting but the government is alert," he said, according to the Nation. In a statement that evening he said UDA regretted the loss "brought about by those responsible for organising the youth to disrupt our party meeting" and demanded "punitive measures against all those responsible".

Mbarire went further and named Gitonga Mukunji (Manyatta), accusing him of planning the chaos. Mukunji, whom a Timely Kenya poll in mid-2026 measured against Mbarire for the governor's seat, denied it. "There is no way they can always blame me for organising violence. I am not involved in any way," he told journalists in Embu town that Saturday.

On Sunday 13 September armed police, some in plain clothes, camped at Mukunji's rural home in Mutunduri from about 6am, the Nation reported. He was at church. His lawyers wrote to the Inspector General and the DCI on 15 September demanding an impartial inquiry and asking "who fired the fatal shots?" The same week the High Court in Embu granted him anticipatory bail, a case we cover separately.

Where it sits in a longer pattern

Nembure was not a one-off. The Nation counted at least 11 deaths linked to political rallies between February and September 2026, in Nairobi, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Kisii, Vihiga, Kajiado and Embu. The human rights commission's tally is in three months of political violence logged by KNCHR.

The politics behind the meeting matter too. Kindiki had used the Nembure platform to attack the push to split the region into Mt Kenya East and West, the fight explained in Mount Kenya East and Mount Kenya West, explained. A week later elders at Kirigiti named him the region's spokesman, covered in what the Kirigiti endorsement means.

The next dates are legal ones. The High Court listed Mukunji's application for directions on 29 September, and IPOA's 60 days run from mid-September.