NAIROBI, Kenya – Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has hit back at his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua, warning him of unspecified consequences after being accused of bankrolling violence during last month’s Saba Saba protests.
In a Facebook post on Sunday evening, Kindiki dismissed Gachagua’s claims as desperate, crude, and outright lies meant to shift blame for the political fallout surrounding the deadly demonstrations.
“Trap Man, did I hear you say that I paid rioters to cause violence and loot property during the recent demos?” Kindiki posted. “In my significantly long public life, I have never been associated with or accused of violence.”
“I told you tuheshimiane, but your pride and uncouth habit of attacking people who have nothing to do with the mess you have created for yourself will certainly hasten you to get what you are looking for. Umekuja sana.”
Gachagua, who now leads the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), had earlier accused Kindiki of receiving KSh60 million from President William Ruto to sponsor chaos during the July 7 protests in an alleged plot to frame him and his political allies in the Mt. Kenya region.
“They paid goons to cause mayhem and frame us for it so that the public would turn against us,” Gachagua claimed while addressing supporters in Boston, U.S. “But Kenyans are not blind; they can see through the deception.”
But Kindiki rejected the allegations, describing them as an insult to public intelligence.
“Even lies require a little sophistication, a little intelligence, a little innovation,” he wrote. “You are organising for defence lawyers and fundraising to bail out looters hired by someone else? Next time, take a moment to think through your lies.”
The political exchange comes in the aftermath of the Saba Saba protests, which turned deadly in several parts of the country.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) says at least 38 people were killed and more than 130 injured, with businesses looted and property worth millions destroyed.
