Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
Former deputy president claims foiled Sh200m state plot lay behind the quiet streets
By MKT Reporter
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua yesterday congratulated Kenya’s Gen Z movement for heeding his call to stay away from anniversary demonstrations, claiming their restraint foiled a government-sponsored plot to unleash violence on protesters marking two years since the historic June 25, 2024 protests.
In a statement posted on his X handle, Gachagua alleged that Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen had authorised the withdrawal of Sh200 million to fund organised gangs tasked with attacking demonstrators and destroying property. He said the intelligence reached him through patriotic civil servants and police officers operating from within the state itself — information he used to advise Kenyans to stay home. The government had not responded to the allegations at the time of going to press.
“I sincerely thank my dear sons and daughters — the GenZs — for heeding my plea to avoid death and injury. They had planned to harm you in a big magnitude today,” Gachagua wrote.
The streets of Nairobi and several other towns were notably quieter than anticipated. Large sections of the Central Business District remained shuttered, public transport was heavily disrupted by police roadblocks, and many residents stayed indoors throughout the day.
Gachagua also extended thanks to traders and business communities across the country for closing their premises and securing their neighbourhoods, arguing the precaution denied the alleged gangs their intended targets. He acknowledged with evident bitterness that private citizens had been compelled to hire their own security to protect their livelihoods from what he characterised as a state-backed threat.
He drew a firm distinction between police officers who exercised restraint and those who, he alleged, attempted arbitrary arrests and excessive force. He publicly thanked security personnel who passed him advance warning of the alleged plot while warning others against following unlawful orders. “This is your country,” he wrote. “We know you are suffering too, just like the 55 million other Kenyans.”
The former deputy president used the occasion to revisit what he described as a pattern of state violence across three successive years — lives lost on June 25, 2024, during the June 2025 protests, and during the 7/7 Day demonstrations — each time, he alleged, at the hands of police bullets and state-sponsored gangs. He spoke directly to bereaved families, promising they would not be forgotten.
“To the families who lost their loved ones and to Kenyans whose property and livelihoods were destroyed, we shall never forget what they did to us,” he wrote.
Framing yesterday’s quiet streets as a political statement rather than public apathy, Gachagua declared that the nation’s restraint amounted to a vote of no confidence in the Ruto administration. He urged Kenyans to channel their energy into voter registration ahead of the August 2027 general election, which he described as Kenya’s date with destiny.
“Tactical retreat is not surrender but strategy,” he told the Gen Z movement. “Caution is not cowardice but wisdom.”
Since his controversial impeachment in October 2024 — which he has consistently described as unconstitutional — Gachagua has reinvented himself as a vocal opposition figure with a growing following among younger Kenyans. Yesterday’s statement was consistent with that repositioning: direct, combative, and aimed squarely at a generation whose political energy he is openly courting.
For the families still waiting for justice over deaths dating back to 2024, the politics matter less than the silence that surrounds their loss. Their questions remain unanswered. And Gachagua, for one, is determined that nobody forgets it.
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Karua leads tribute to Gen Z victims, demands justice
- Kenyans mark Gen Z anniversary amid protests and roadblocks
- Dutch dominance: Netherlands top Group F after 3-1 victory over Tunisia
- Maeda and Elanga trade blows as Japan and Sweden advance in 1-1 stalemate
- Mnangagwa’s pen: constitutional duty, political choice, and a national time bomb
About the Author
