Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has issued a grave warning to Kenyan youth ahead of the planned June 25 demonstrations to commemorate the first anniversary of last year’s deadly anti-tax protests.
Speaking on Kameme FM on Monday, Gachagua claimed that there is a sinister plot by President William Ruto and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to disrupt the memorial by using hired goons to launch attacks on peaceful demonstrators. According to the ex-DP, the same groups often seen at government events in Nairobi will allegedly be deployed to cause violence and potentially kill innocent youth taking part in the commemorative protests.
“I fear that if the youth take to the streets, the government and the governor of Nairobi will use goons. They will be brought from Umoja, Kayole and other places and come to kill the youth,” Gachagua warned emotionally.
He urged parents to discourage their children from physically marching in the streets, suggesting that the remembrance be observed from home to prevent bloodshed. “These people really want to spill the blood of young people. Let us not take our children to the slaughterhouse while we watch,” he cautioned.
Gachagua also referenced the June 12 protests that turned chaotic in Nairobi’s CBD. He claimed that reports of cars being set ablaze were fabricated to justify a brutal police response. “No car was officially reported as burnt, and the vehicles allegedly torched were not even registered,” he said, arguing that this was a ploy to vilify the protestors.
As the country prepares to mark a year since the youth-led demonstrations against the Finance Act 2023, there have been growing calls for remembrance. Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has called on Kenyans to gather peacefully outside Parliament on June 25 and light candles in memory of the young lives lost.
“On the 25th of June, Kenyans should go there and light candles… we must honour the young Kenyans who died or were injured,” Kalonzo said during a church service in Kilifi.
With tensions rising, the message from leaders remains divided between calls for peaceful commemoration and stark warnings of state-orchestrated violence.
