National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah has accused former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his allies of planning the chaos that shook Kikuyu Town on Saturday, April 11.
The Kikuyu MP argues that Kenya’s growing culture of political violence stems from a toxic mix of unemployment and opportunistic politicians who weaponize desperate youth for personal gain.
“We know each other, we know who supports which gang,” Ichung’wah said on NTV’s Fixing the Nation on Tuesday, April 14, challenging his fellow politicians to stop shielding one another and start calling out bad actors openly.
When asked on whose orders were the gangs in Kikuyu following, Ichung’wah did not hesitate; “Of course, Gachagua and his cronies.”
He claimed that by 6am that morning, gangs had already been deployed to block the Southern Bypass, and that the very same individuals were later spotted robbing motorists along the same road after the rally dispersed.
He further identified some of the perpetrators, including young women donned in a senator’s branded T-shirts reportedly from Kipipiri, and others he said had publicly threatened on social media to “storm Kikuyu by all means” from Githurai.
“I saw the people I had seen on social media, threatening to storm Kikuyu by all means, from Githurai. I said it in my statement on Saturday night. I have since relayed the same clips to the police, including video evidence,” he said.
Ichung’wah insisted he saw the violence coming and acted well before it unfolded.
He says he personally wrote to the Inspector General of Police, alerted the sub-county security committee, and flagged Gachagua’s public statements on the floor of Parliament, all ahead of Saturday’s events.
“When Gachagua said what he was saying in public, I went to Parliament. I said exactly what he was planning to do. I relayed that information personally in writing to the Inspector General of Police, to the districts, the sub-county security committee and told them, take charge and do not allow goonism to take root. I was vindicated,” he said.
Several suspects have since been arrested, with evidence formally submitted to Kikuyu Police Station.
Beyond the political blame game, the MP pointed to a deeper structural problem driving the violence. He argued that years of unmanaged youth unemployment have created a vast and vulnerable population of young people easily hired as political force.
“We want to use the unfortunate circumstances of young people who are unemployed, who are desperate for a source of income, to use them as gangs for hire,” he stated, a cycle he described as a deliberate and dangerous national failure.
When pressed on whether the Inspector General should step aside, given a string of unresolved political violence incidents across the country, from Othaya to Kisii to Kakamega, Ichung’wah recalled Parliament summoning the IG and the relevant Cabinet Secretary, during which police maintained they could not act without a formal complainant and supporting evidence.
“If you honestly believe the police should do something, why don’t you provide the information that you have?”
