Professor Thomas Tonny Onyango Mboya, an esteemed lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), was brutally murdered on October 1, 2025, in Waware village, Suba North Sub-county, Homa Bay County. The 56-year-old academic, who was also the Director of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at TUK, was attacked during a land dispute that had been ongoing for some time.
Witnesses reported that the assailants, who are believed to be relatives of the late professor, became enraged after a court ruling directed one of them to demolish structures built on the disputed land. Rather than complying with the order, the assailant reportedly stormed the property armed with a panga, where Prof. Mboya was overseeing the marking of boundaries. The assailant viciously beheaded Prof. Mboya before attacking his elderly father, Wilson Onyango Opanga, leaving him with serious injuries.
The suspects fled the scene after the alarm was raised, narrowly escaping the wrath of a pursuing mob. According to police, the suspects are still on the run, and a manhunt is underway to apprehend them. The police further revealed that Prof. Mboya and his father had been waiting for local authorities, including the area chief and police, to help execute the court’s directive when they were ambushed.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo condemned the brutal act, calling for swift action by the police to bring the perpetrators to justice. “Violence never sorts out issues,” she stated, expressing her sorrow at the untimely death of Prof. Mboya, who was well-respected in academic circles.
Prof. Mboya, born in 1970, had a distinguished academic career. He completed his education at several institutions, including Egerton University and the University of Nairobi, where he earned a Master of Science in Mathematics. After pursuing a PhD in Inverse and Ill-posed Problems from the University of Leeds, he became a Senior Lecturer at TUK. He had held several leadership roles within the university, including Head of the Department of Industrial and Engineering Mathematics. His contributions to education and mathematics were highly regarded by his colleagues and students.
His death has shocked the academic community, and many have mourned the loss of a dedicated and passionate educator.
TUK Lecturer Brutally Murdered in Homa Bay Over Land Dispute
