Police under pressure to link Gachagua with goons infiltrating protests

State-sponsored goons on Koinange street during protests on June 17, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard] Police are under pressure from senior people in the Kenya Kwanza regime to link impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua with the violence and looting witnessed in the recent June 25 demonstrations. This comes even as the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin said in a presser on Monday, June 30, that police would arrest Gachagua if he is linked to the demos. "He (Gachagua) does not enjoy any immunity from prosecution. If in our investigations he is found to have aided or abetted any criminal activity, then appropriate action will be taken." Amin also denied that the agency had summoned the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader in connection with the demos, but admitted they were investigating the funders of the goons. Demonstrations were held countrywide after the death of Albert Ojwang at the Central Police Station on June 8. Protesters pointed a finger at Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat for his alleged role in the killing. On June 12, demos were rocked with the looting of businesses and robbing of people in Nairobi. Governor Johnson Sakaja and President William Ruto's aide Farouk Kibet had earlier vowed to bring order into the city. On June 17, when patriotic Kenyans took to the streets, a wave of goons armed with sticks and whips riding on motorcycles was unleashed on them. Media reports at the time showed that some of the goons had been paid by people with links to City Hall and State House. The Standard has learnt that since the looting and destruction of property witnessed during the June 17 and 25 demos, pressure has been mounting on the police to identify the funders, with Gachagua being the main target of the probe. "We've interviewed dozens of suspects so far- none has mentioned the former Deputy President. There's no evidence linking him to the violence of June 25. But I can tell you this, the political pressure to find something on him is intense," a senior detective privy to the ongoing investigations said. The idea behind this is to grow the anger of the business owners since now demonstrations will be seen as just an avenue to loot and not for what they're intended to achieve. DIC boss Mohammed Amin said detectives are investigating if former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua sponsored goons during recent protests in Nairobi. [Edward Kiplimo,Standard] Another detective revealed that "our preliminary findings suggest some of those who mobilised the goons were paid in cash- but the trail hasn't led us to Gachagua." The mobilisation for either political rallies or demonstrations usually involves money, and some people in government do not believe that the demos have been organic. As the evidence directs detectives elsewhere, inaction by police to counter the goons is also working against DCI detectives. Circumstances point to the possibility that police were ordered not to interfere with goons as they looted businesses in downtown Nairobi and other parts of the country. Another detective said, "There's a deliberate push from certain quarters to tie Gachagua to this, but he facts so far don't support that narrative." The former DP Gachugua has already claimed that there is a plot to have him arrested after leaders from the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) accused him of orchestrating the chaos. During a press conference after the June 25 protests, CS Murkomen accused unnamed politicians of planning a coup and planning the demos, which had a call to march to State House as a way of overthrowing the Kenya Kwanza administration. Soon after his address, other politicians, led by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, lashed out at Gachagua, directly linking him to the chaos. "If you are involved in these criminal and terror activities, we are coming for you. We would not wait for you to cause more deaths and destruction, we will come for you the way we have done with Al Shabaab terrorists," said Kindiki during an empowerment program in Kitui County. ODM chairperson Gladys Wanga and Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo, during a bursary distribution event, claimed that Gachagua was riding on the Gen Z protests to take power illegitimately.

Police under pressure to link Gachagua with goons infiltrating protests

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