24 August 2026
The Marxist Lawyers League (MLL), the legal branch of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya (CPMK), issues this urgent update to the international working class movement, fraternal communist and workers parties, anti imperialist organisations, progressive lawyers, democratic forces and human rights defenders across the world.
The political struggle in Kenya has entered a critical phase.
The continuing proceedings at the Mavoko Law Courts concerning Comrade Booker Omole, General Secretary of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya, raise serious questions concerning the conduct of the investigation, the handling of alleged exhibits and personal property, the credibility of elements of the prosecution case, and the relationship between state power and the criminalisation of revolutionary political activity.
Comrade Booker Omole is not a criminal.
He is a communist.
He is a political organiser.
He is the General Secretary of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya.
His political convictions are not evidence of criminality.
The Marxist Lawyers League maintains that the prosecution of Comrade Omole must be understood within the broader political environment in which revolutionary and progressive forces in Kenya have increasingly confronted intimidation, surveillance, arrests, judicial harassment and attempts to restrict political organisation.
The next court session is scheduled for 16 October 2026 at the Mavoko Law Courts, when the trial is expected to proceed.
The international working class movement must therefore remain vigilant.
The case must not disappear into the machinery of routine criminal prosecution.
THE DISPUTED INVESTIGATION AND THE QUESTION OF EVIDENCE
The proceedings have raised serious questions concerning the seizure, recording, custody and subsequent production of property allegedly recovered during the arrest of Comrade Booker Omole and his co accused.
On 11 May 2026, the defence filed an application seeking the return of personal property allegedly seized during the arrest, including KShs 319,000, a passport, prescription glasses, an iPhone 12 and an iPhone charger.
The defence maintained that these items were not accompanied by a lawful inventory at the time of seizure.
The Investigating Officer, Cpl. Edwin Munene, subsequently produced an inventory recording the alleged recovery of 10 rolls of bhang, a Glock pistol, 23 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a spent cartridge and KShs 311,000.
The defence has disputed the contents and circumstances surrounding this inventory.
The discrepancy concerning the alleged cash, together with questions surrounding the recording and continued custody of personal effects, requires careful judicial examination.
On 13 June 2026, Chief Magistrate Hon. Barbara Ojoo dismissed the application for release of the property at that preliminary stage and directed that the disputed items remain in police custody as exhibits. The Court indicated that the competing accounts concerning the property would be tested during the trial through examination and cross examination of witnesses.
This distinction is important.
The Marxist Lawyers League does not ask the international movement to substitute political assertion for judicial examination.
We demand the opposite.
We demand that the evidence be examined fully.
We demand that every alleged exhibit have a verifiable chain of custody.
We demand proper documentation.
We demand accountability.
And we demand that no public institution be permitted to hide behind the authority of the State when serious questions concerning evidence handling have been raised.
QUESTIONS CONCERNING POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
The proceedings have also raised questions concerning the conduct of senior police officials involved in the investigation.
The Officer Commanding Station of Mlolongo Police Station, Mr Peter Mugambi, was summoned by the Court in connection with matters concerning the continued retention of Comrade Omole’s property and issues arising during the proceedings.
The defence subsequently raised concerns regarding his failure to comply with the Court summons, with Advocate Kioi seeking enforcement of the Court’s authority.
These developments are of serious public interest.
A constitutional state cannot demand obedience to judicial authority from citizens while public officials disregard lawful processes of the same courts.
The question is therefore larger than the conduct of one police officer.
It concerns the principle that every institution exercising coercive power must remain subject to the law.
The Marxist Lawyers League calls for a full and impartial examination of the conduct of all officials involved in the investigation and handling of the case.
THE RECUSAL OF THE PRESIDING MAGISTRATE
During the proceedings, Hon. Magistrate M. Nanzushi, S.P.M., declared herself conflicted and recused herself from the matter.
The Marxist Lawyers League does not attribute motives to the Court.
Judicial recusal is a matter governed by judicial principles and must be understood within the proper legal framework.
However, the development reinforces the importance of ensuring that the proceedings continue before a court capable of exercising its authority independently and without actual or perceived interference.
The credibility of the judicial process depends upon public confidence that the Court can examine allegations concerning police conduct, disputed evidence and prosecution testimony without fear or favour.
The international movement should therefore follow the proceedings closely.
Not because the Court should be instructed how to decide the case.
But because justice must be seen to be done.
THE WITHDRAWAL OF A KEY STATE WITNESS
Earlier proceedings also brought before the Court a withdrawal affidavit associated with State witness Andrew Amoth.
The circumstances surrounding this affidavit, together with allegations raised by the defence concerning the conduct of the Investigating Officer and other police officials, have generated serious questions concerning the manner in which elements of the prosecution case were assembled.
The original complainant has also sought to withdraw from the proceedings.
These developments do not, by themselves, establish the guilt or innocence of any accused person.
They do, however, make rigorous judicial examination of the evidence indispensable.
The State bears the responsibility of proving its case through admissible and credible evidence.
Political narratives cannot replace evidence.
Police allegations cannot replace evidence.
Public relations cannot replace evidence.
A criminal conviction must rest upon evidence tested according to law.
THE BROADER ATTACK ON THE WORKING CLASS
The Mavoko proceedings cannot be separated from the broader political environment in Kenya.
Kenyan workers, peasants, unemployed youth, students, progressive intellectuals and democratic organisations continue to confront exploitation, land dispossession, unemployment, corruption, police brutality, imperialist domination and the concentration of economic power in the hands of a narrow ruling class and its allies.
The Communist Party Marxist Kenya has organised around these questions.
It has sought to develop the political consciousness, organisation and independent power of the working class and oppressed masses.
It has openly advocated social transformation.
That political programme cannot itself constitute a criminal offence.
The criminalisation of revolutionary politics is not political debate.
The harassment of political organisations is not democracy.
The intimidation of political leaders is not constitutionalism.
And the use of criminal proceedings to isolate political organisers must never become a weapon against the organised working class.
The struggle over the Mavoko proceedings is therefore also a struggle over the political space available to the working class.
THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION
The international working class must understand that repression does not always arrive in the form of a military coup or an openly declared dictatorship.
In the contemporary neo colonial state, repression can also operate through police investigations, selective prosecution, surveillance, judicial harassment and the construction of criminal narratives around political activity.
The Kenyan working class has experienced such methods before.
The danger is not only what happens to one communist leader.
The danger is the normalisation of the principle that revolutionary organisation can be transformed into criminality by the machinery of the State.
This is why international solidarity matters.
When one communist is persecuted for political activity, the international communist movement must ask what political conditions made that persecution possible.
When evidence is disputed, comrades must demand transparency.
When police conduct is questioned, comrades must demand accountability.
When political organisation is criminalised, comrades must defend the democratic rights of the working class.
INTERNATIONAL CALL TO ACTION
The Marxist Lawyers League, as the legal branch of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya, calls upon communist and workers parties, socialist organisations, trade unions, anti imperialist movements, progressive lawyers, human rights defenders, democratic organisations and international solidarity networks to:
1. Demand a transparent, impartial and fair judicial process in the proceedings against Comrade Booker Omole and his co accused.
2. Follow the proceedings at the Mavoko Law Courts and publicly document significant developments.
3. Demand full accountability concerning the seizure, recording, custody and production of all alleged exhibits and personal property.
4. Demand the return of personal property where there is no lawful basis for its continued detention.
5. Call for an independent examination of allegations concerning police conduct and irregularities in the investigation.
6. Demand that the prosecution establish its case through credible, admissible and properly tested evidence.
7. Defend the constitutional rights of CPMK and other political organisations to organise, assemble, educate, mobilise and advocate for social transformation without intimidation or criminalisation.
8. Expose the wider pattern of political repression and criminalisation of dissent in Kenya.
9. Raise the Mavoko proceedings in international communist, workers, legal and human rights forums.
10. Ensure that the case of Comrade Booker Omole remains under international democratic scrutiny until the judicial process is concluded.
16 OCTOBER 2026: THE NEXT POLITICAL AND LEGAL FRONT
The next court session is scheduled for 16 October 2026 at the Mavoko Law Courts, when the trial is expected to proceed.
The Marxist Lawyers League calls upon comrades and democratic forces throughout the world to mark this date and to follow the proceedings.
We call upon fraternal communist parties to raise the case in their own countries.
We call upon progressive lawyers to examine the legal questions arising from the proceedings.
We call upon trade unions and workers organisations to defend the right of political organisation.
We call upon anti imperialist movements to expose the political context surrounding the prosecution.
And we call upon all democratic forces to insist that the Kenyan State remains accountable to the law.
COMRADE BOOKER OMOLE IS NOT A CRIMINAL
Comrade Booker Omole is not a criminal because he is a communist.
He is not a criminal because he organises workers.
He is not a criminal because he educates the masses.
He is not a criminal because he opposes imperialist domination.
He is not a criminal because he advocates a different social order.
Political convictions are not evidence of criminality.
The Kenyan working class and oppressed masses possess the right to organise for a different society.
They possess the right to challenge exploitation.
They possess the right to oppose imperialist domination.
They possess the right to demand land, justice, dignity and social ownership of the wealth produced by their labour.
No criminal prosecution can erase these political questions.
No police file can imprison an idea.
No administrative measure can extinguish a political programme.
No court proceeding can extinguish the aspirations of an organised people.
The Marxist Lawyers League, the legal branch of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya, will continue to monitor the Mavoko proceedings, document developments and defend the rule of law and the constitutional rights of Comrade Booker Omole, the Communist Party Marxist Kenya and all those facing political repression.
The struggle continues.
The truth must be established through evidence.
Justice must prevail over political intimidation.
The democratic rights of the working class must be defended.
MARXIST LAWYERS LEAGUE
LEGAL BRANCH OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY MARXIST KENYA (CPMK)
24 August 2026