Anti-government protesters burn police signage in Karatina town in Nyeri County on July 23, 2024.
For the past three weeks, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s hometown, Karatina, in Mathira, Nyeri County, has become the epicentre of anti-government protests in the Mt Kenya region.
While the country was largely peaceful on Tuesday, Karatina was the only place to witness another day of mayhem, raising questions about the motive for the chaos and who was behind it.
Police battled rioting youths who pelted them with stones in an orgy of violence that Nyeri County Commissioner Pius Murugu said was aimed at painting the DP's home turf in bad light.
Two people including a Grade Three pupil were rushed to hospital after choking on teargas that exploded inside the Karatina open-air market.
At least 20 people were arrested and taken to an unknown place.
The violent clashes, which disrupted traffic on the Nyeri-Nairobi highway, have raised suspicions among locals and regional security officials that a hidden hand is fuelling the protests.
Local security officials have blamed rival political factions, accused of funding thugs to raid and loot.
Since the demonstrations started three weeks ago, at least 80 people including three secondary school students and 25 police officers have been injured.
Some of the victims are still nursing gunshot wounds at Karatina Level Four Hospital.
One of the students has been referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi for specialised treatment. His mother, Milka Gathoni, told Nation.Africa her son's condition started deteriorating, prompting doctors to refer him to the national hospital.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga last week waived the hospital bills for all victims of police brutality.
Mathira East sub-County Police Commander Benjamin Boen said one of the officers is being treated at Tumutumu Hospital for multiple head injuries.
The demos dubbed “Super Tuesday” protests have left members of the local business community counting losses owing to constant closures and looting.
“We are incurring heavy losses, especially those of us in the hospitality industry. Whenever the demonstrations start we are forced to close down,” said Dr Geoffrey Kamau, Starbucks hotel director.
Mr Murugu who was accompanied by the entire county security committee said the Gen Z demonstrations have transformed into local political power play.
He said the demos were not ‘organic’ and were meant to portray Mathira constituency, the backyard of Mr Gachagua, in a bad light to achieve a certain political agenda.
“It was curious that this is the only area in Nyeri County where demonstrations happened for two consecutive weeks. We know the local political dynamics and this has a political motive,” he said.
Mr Murugu, who is also the acting Central regional commissioner, said some politicians were on the radar of security agencies for sponsoring goons to infiltrate peaceful demonstrations.
On Tuesday, reports emerged that three senior aides in the Deputy President’s office had been questioned in an ongoing investigation seeking to establish alleged financiers of anti-government protests.
In the past two demonstrations in Mathira, it was curious that the protestors were not chanting “Ruto must go", the rallying call during the initial youth-led protests.
This has raised questions as to the motive of the protesters and the latest flare-up of violence in Karatina.
On Tuesday last week, several people were injured after two sets of demonstrators, one pro-government and the other anti-government, clashed. An office belonging to a local boda boda Sacco was vandalised with office furniture and computers carted away.
