Matiang’i: Raila stood firm with me when my home was raided by Ruto regime
By Ascah Mwango, October 17, 2025Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has opened up about the night his home was raided by police shortly after President William Ruto took power, revealing that the late Raila Odinga was the only political leader who stood by him during what he described as his darkest hour.
Speaking during a live interview on a local television station on Friday, October 17, 2025, Matiang’i recounted how Raila arrived at his Karen home in Nairobi with several members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on the night of the raid.
“On the day when there was an attempted raid at my house, Raila arrived with several members of ODM,” Matiang’i said.
“He stood up for me at my greatest hour of need. Then he told me, ‘You know there are people in this world who get power and behave like this.’”
Matiang’i expressed deep gratitude for Raila’s show of solidarity, describing it as a gesture he would ‘never forget’.
The Karen home raid
The raid on Matiang’i’s home took place on the night of February 8, 2023, at around 10 pm.
His residence in the upscale Karen neighbourhood was surrounded by heavily armed police officers, an incident that sparked outrage among opposition figures and former officials of the previous administration.
At the time, Matiang’i – who had served as the most powerful Cabinet Secretary in former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government – claimed he was being targeted by the new Ruto administration as part of a political vendetta.
Ruto’s government had launched investigations into several former Cabinet members linked to Uhuru’s regime over claims of corruption and abuse of office.
That night, the late opposition leader Raila Odinga rushed to the scene, condemning what he termed an attempted arrest of Matiang’i and accusing the government of using intimidation to silence dissent.
“We won’t allow this country to degenerate into a police state,” Raila told reporters gathered outside the gated compound.
The National Police Service and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) initially denied any involvement in the operation, insisting that no officers had been deployed to Matiang’i’s home.
However, subsequent court filings and media investigations revealed that security agencies had indeed been monitoring the former CS in connection with property and corruption inquiries.
In the weeks that followed, Matiang’i was summoned and briefly detained by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for spreading false information about the raid. The charges were later withdrawn.
Amid the political tension, Matiang’i left Kenya for the United States, where he remained for several months before his heroic return on June 19, 2025.
His latest remarks mark the first time he has publicly reflected on the episode since returning to the country — and his words serve as both a tribute to Raila Odinga’s loyalty and a subtle rebuke to those who distanced themselves from him after the end of the Uhuru administration.