Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has thanked Kenyan youth for heeding his call to stay at home on Thursday, June 25th, as the country marked the second anniversary of the anti-government protests in which scores of young Kenyans lost their lives.
During the 2024 protests, which erupted in response to the oppressive Finance Bill 2024, over 60 youths were killed by police and thousands more were injured by police bullets. Hundreds of others were abducted by security agencies acting on orders from senior Kenya Kwanza Alliance officials, a dark chapter that has never left the memory of a generation that paid the heaviest price for speaking out.
On Wednesday, Gachagua, who leads both the United Opposition and the Democracy for Citizens Party, urged the youth to remain at home on the commemoration day, warning that the government and the police had made plans to deploy goons to cause chaos, harm demonstrators and loot businesses, with the intention of then pinning the blame on opposition leaders.
“I have intelligence that Murkomen, Omollo, Kihika and others have organised goons to cause mayhem in Mt Kenya. Sh200 million was withdrawn today in Upperhill from the Interior account, meant to finance goons for Thursday,” Gachagua claimed.
He further alleged that the operation was being coordinated by what he described as the notorious Nairobi Sierra Squad, operating under Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, with Democracy for Citizens Party strongholds specifically targeted so that the party’s leadership could be publicly blamed for any resulting violence.
“I have been informed that DCP strongholds have been targeted so that the leader can be blamed alongside leaders who support him,” he alleged.
The youth listened. Millions stayed home on Thursday, bringing major towns to a standstill and delivering a body blow to the national economy. Nairobi’s Central Business District was a ghost town, and similar scenes played out across the country as businesses closed, matatus stayed off the roads and the streets fell silent in collective remembrance and quiet defiance.
Gachagua wasted no time in acknowledging the response, taking to X to express his gratitude to the youth and to the business community who trusted his counsel.
“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. I further extend great thanks to the business people, traders and neighbourhoods for trusting my better judgement and information and shutting down your premises and securing your towns and communities. This deterred the looting and destruction by state-sponsored goons as they had planned,” Gachagua wrote.
In a country where political warnings are often dismissed as noise, Thursday proved that when Gachagua speaks to the youth, they are listening.
