Kasipul MP aspirant Money Bior beats agents, leaving them hospitalised after the controversial independent candidate allegedly lured over a dozen campaign workers to his rural home in West Kasipul ward, where he subjected them to a brutal caning session that left several nursing severe injuries and issued a chilling ultimatum to repay campaign funds or face worse reprisals.
The shocking incident unfolded late Friday evening in the quiet village of Kanyango, just days after the contentious November 27 by-election that saw Orange Democratic Movement’s Boyd Were clinch the seat with a landslide victory over a field of nine rivals, including flamboyant businessman Robert Riaga Ajwang, better known by his moniker Money Bior.
Eyewitnesses and hospital sources confirmed that Ajwang, who polled a distant fourth with only 519 votes amid whispers of vote-buying scandals, summoned his agents via WhatsApp messages promising end-of-campaign bonuses and performance reviews.
Instead, the group of mostly young men from the Kamagak and Kasipul areas arrived to find the 38-year-old aspirant waiting with a gang of hired enforcers armed with wooden clubs and sjamboks.
Local clinic records at Berils Hospital in Oyugis town show at least five victims admitted overnight with deep lacerations on their backs, arms, and legs, two requiring stitches for head wounds sustained during the melee.
One agent, a 24-year-old father of two identified as Omondi Ochieng, suffered a fractured forearm and is under observation for possible internal bruising.
“He called us brothers in the fight for Kasipul’s future, but when we got there, it was a trap,” Ochieng told reporters from his hospital bed on Wednesday morning, his voice trembling.
“He accused us of pocketing voter bribes and not delivering enough votes. They beat us like animals while he watched and shouted that we must return every shilling or our families would pay next.”
Ajwang, son of the late Luo Council of Elders heavyweight Ker Riaga Omollo, has built a reputation for lavish philanthropy during his short-lived bid to succeed the slain MP Charles Ong’ondo Were, handing out cash bundles at rallies and funding borehole projects in drought-hit villages.
Yet, his campaign was dogged by controversy from the start, including court-sanctioned raids by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over an alleged Sh500 million international fraud scheme linked to “wash wash” money laundering operations in Nairobi’s Westlands malls.
Investigative journalist Edgar Obare’s August exposé tied Ajwang to shadowy associates like Samuel Oyugi and Michael Okongo, painting him as a financier of fake investment scams targeting desperate job seekers.
Undeterred, he ran as an independent after boycotting ODM primaries marred by violence and rigging claims, vowing to “buy back Kasipul from corrupt dynasties.”
In the village, shock has given way to simmering anger. Elders at the Kanyango location held an impromptu baraza on Wednesday, where community leader Paul Owuor decried the episode as a symptom of money’s toxic grip on politics.
“Money Bior came with promises of jobs and schools but left us with broken bodies and stolen dignity. How can a son of Ker Riaga stoop to this?” Owuor asked, flanked by women clutching placards reading “No More Blood for Votes”.
Supporters of Victor Boyd Were, who inherits his father’s development legacy with pledges to complete the Kabondo-Sindo road, distanced themselves from the drama, calling it a desperate act from a sore loser.
Were’s camp, however, faces its own scrutiny after the IEBC fines of Sh1 million each for him and rival Philip Aroko over pre-poll clashes that claimed two lives.
Ajwang remained holed up at his fortified Oyugis residence Thursday, issuing a statement through his lawyer denying involvement and claiming the beatings stemmed from a “private dispute over unpaid loans”.
He warned against “media witch hunts” that could derail his appeals against the by-election results, which he alleges were rigged by ODM’s machine in cahoots with Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga.
“This isn’t just about one man’s tantrum; it’s a warning that unchecked campaign financing breeds violence,” political analyst Kilonzo Muthama noted.
As the dust settles in Kasipul, with over 67,000 registered voters still reeling from a poll turnout of just 42 per cent amid threats and boycotts, calls grow for swift justice.
Hospitalised agents now huddle in Oyugis safe houses, whispering of Ajwang’s network that spans from Nairobi’s fraud dens to Luo elder councils. For a constituency scarred by Ong’ondo Were’s April assassination – a brazen motorcycle hit outside Parliament – the Kasipul MP aspirant Money Bior beats agents hospitalised saga underscores a grim truth: in the race for power, the real casualties are often the foot soldiers caught in the crossfire.
