For the first time since independence, Kirinyaga County has stepped out of the shadows and taken the lead in the Mount Kenya region when it comes to the ongoing fuel protests sweeping across the country.
Kirinyaga, which was carved out of Embu County, has long been viewed as the quiet, toothless younger sibling in a region dominated by heavyweights like Kiambu, Muranga, Nyeri, Embu and Meru. Nobody gave it much credit when it came to political muscle or street energy.
But Monday changed all of that.The county, widely known as the political bedroom of government apologist and area Governor Anne Waiguru, became the unexpected epicenter of the anti-fuel price demonstrations.
From Kagio to Sagana to Makutano, thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets, their voices loud and their anger impossible to ignore. They directed their fury squarely at President William Ruto’s government for hiking fuel prices with no regard for the hustlers who came out in large numbers to vote for this very government in the 2022 presidential election.
The irony was not lost on anyone. The fire is burning closest to home, right in Waiguru’s own backyard.
Below are videos of the anti-fuel demonstrations rocking Kirinyaga County.
