‘Kenyans are not fools,’ Gachagua defends protesters, insists State sponsored goons for destruction

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has come out to defend Gen Z demonstrators, accusing the government of orchestrating chaos during the Wednesday, June 25, protests to smear and criminalise peaceful youth-led activism.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Thursday, Gachagua dismissed Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen’s assertion that the protests were part of a coup attempt, instead blaming the violence and looting witnessed in parts of Nairobi and other towns on state-sponsored goons.

The Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader further alleged that goons were ferried into the city under police escort to loot and destroy property, a plan he said was designed to discredit the youth-led protests aimed at demanding accountability for slain demonstrators from last year.

“We have seen the CS for Interior pretentiously visiting shops that were looted by state-sponsored goons in an attempt to hide his guilt. Mr. Murkomen, Kenyans are not fools,” said Gachagua, in response to Murkomen’s claim that the police foiled an alleged regime change plot.

“Your police allowed goons into town at their expense to go and cause mayhem and place the blame on the Gen Zs.”

In contrast to Murkomen’s description of security agencies acting with restraint, Gachagua accused the government of waging a year-long “campaign of terror” against young people through abductions, torture, extrajudicial killings, and media suppression.

He pointed fingers at his former boss, President William Ruto, blaming his administration for using excessive force against unarmed protesters and turning the country into a police state.

“In the strongest terms possible, I condemn the use of excessive force and live bullets by the Police on peaceful and unarmed Gen-Z protesters witnessed yesterday across the country,” said Gachagua.

“You have tried to gag the media to drown them out—still, they have refused to be silenced. They are louder now than they were a year ago.”

Murkomen, during his earlier press briefing, had painted a starkly different picture, accusing protest organisers of plotting to destabilise the country through violence and looting.

He had further alleged that large amounts of cash were ferried to the protesters, describing it as “a well-orchestrated plan” to oust the current administration, further adding that police were attacked and bore the brunt of the chaos.

“This has nothing to do with protests, but an unconstitutional attempt to change the regime… The police were able to foil an attempted coup,” Murkomen had said, vowing to “come for” the organisers and financiers.

Gachagua, in his rejoinder, accuses government-aligned politicians of coordinating looting sprees with the help of rogue police officers, sustaining that any violence during the protests was state-manufactured.

“You changed tactics where goons were instructed to loot and destroy property,” he stated. “These rogue officials and politicians led goons for a targeted looting spree to intimidate and coerce [Kenyans] to support this unpopular regime,” he said, further alleging that certain businesses were deliberately profiled for destruction based on ethnic affiliations.

Gachagua also called out what he termed as "profiling" of the Kikuyu community by Murkomen, alleging that certain businesses were deliberately profiled for destruction based on the owner’s ethnic affiliations.

“We have listened to a misinformed statement… profiling the Kikuyu community. Yet the CS is well aware that the Gen Zs were against corruption, extrajudicial killings, abductions, and anarchy,” said Gachagua.

 Dismissing the notion that young protesters were funded or manipulated by politicians, he said: “The Gen Zs do not require any financing or being led in their cause unless you want to believe in your own lies and cheap propaganda.”

Gachagua consequently implored the President to genuinely listen to the cries of the youth, warning that they are the ones with the most at stake.

“They have more tomorrows ahead of them than either you or I. If you truly listen, you'll hear them telling you that the person setting this country ablaze is you, Mr. Ruto.”