In early January 2015, a body discovered deep in Tsavo National Park sent shockwaves across Kenya. It was Meshak Yebei, a 34-year-old activist from Turbo, Eldoret, who had gone missing just days after leaving home to buy water for his sick child.
Yebei’s death was grotesque: his eyes had been gouged out, his tongue severed, genitals removed, and he had been shot in the head. His body was left in the wilderness for hyenas to consume.
Yebei’s murder reopened old wounds tied to Kenya’s violent 2007-08 post-election crisis. The presidential election in December 2007, which declared Mwai Kibaki the winner over Raila Odinga, triggered nationwide unrest.
In the Rift Valley, Kalenjin youth attacked Kikuyu families over longstanding land grievances, while in parts of Nairobi, Nakuru, and Naivasha, Kikuyu gangs—some linked to Mungiki—retaliated against Luo and Kalenjin communities.
Over 1,100 people were killed, more than 600,000 displaced, with widespread reports of rape, arson, and forced circumcision.
In the aftermath, the Waki Commission documented the violence, naming politicians and local leaders implicated in organizing attacks.
When Parliament failed to act, a sealed envelope with evidence was forwarded to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In 2009, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo opened an investigation, eventually naming six individuals—the “Ocampo Six”—including William Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang, for orchestrating attacks on Kikuyus in the Rift Valley, and Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura, Henry Kosgey, and Mohammed Hussein Ali for retaliatory killings.
Yebei had played a complex role in the ICC process. As an activist, he had documented the 2007-08 violence and spoken to human rights groups and investigators.
However, the ICC later considered his involvement controversial: evidence suggested he had engaged in attempts to bribe or intimidate witnesses in the Ruto-Sang case. Despite this, Ruto’s legal team claimed Yebei had been a key witness in their defence.
On 28 December 2014, Yebei disappeared, and initial searches led to misidentifications. It was only with DNA testing that authorities confirmed the mutilated body in Tsavo as his.
His murder highlighted the peril faced by witnesses and activists involved in politically sensitive cases. Human rights groups condemned the killing, citing witness intimidation as a persistent threat.
Ruto’s lawyers framed the murder as an attempt to silence a defence witness, while the ICC noted that Yebei had once been in its protection programme but had voluntarily returned home.
Despite a police investigation and assurances from the Director of Public Prosecutions, no arrests have been made.
The Ruto-Sang ICC case collapsed in 2016, with charges against Kenyatta dropped earlier, leaving questions of accountability unresolved.
To this day, Meshak Yebei’s killers remain free. His death serves as a haunting reminder of the dangers faced by those who seek justice and the lingering shadows of Kenya’s post-election violence.