‘I don’t know him’: Kindiki distances himself from officer linked to Witima church chaos

Gachagua, who claimed to have been the target of a State-sponsored assassination during the Sunday morning attack, on Monday January 26 took to his X account to call out DP Kindiki, sharing a photo of a mysterious man seated behind the DP, and the man Gachagua claimed to have been the police officer who led the ACK Church violence.

In the X post, Gachagua's team singled out the man encircled in red, seated right behind Kindiki. He wrote: "Bwana saprano I hear you are calling for investigations. This is your officer who led the attack in Witima ACK church. You are part and parcel of the conspiracy."

In a quick rejoinder, DP Kindiki shot down the Gachagua accusations, explicitly distancing himself from the individual seated behind him while at the same time denying his involvement in the politics of violence.

"Good evening Wamitego: The image you have circled is not of any officer or staff attached to me. I don’t know who that is," he wrote.

"I know you are desperate to associate me in whatever way with the criminal act involving you yesterday. Unfortunately for you, this is not where to find me." 

While once again condemning the Witima church attacks, Kindiki reiterated that his style of politics doesn't involve criminalism or violence, asking Gachagua to refrain from dragging him to his way of doing things.

He wrote: "I condemned and will continue to condemn the backward behaviour of  the use of violence to transact politics whether by notam, haftam, wantam or tutam people." 

Stating that he has been in politics longer than Gachagua, Kindiki doubled down on his non-violent approach to politics: "I use logic, persuasion and consensus," he said. 

"Please do your stuff, and don’t invite me to a duel because our methods of doing things are not the same."

He further urged authorities to ensure that those responsible for organizing the violence are held accountable, warning that failure to act could result in further harm to the country. 

Gachagua framed the tear-gassing, live bullets, vehicle torching, and forced evacuation through a fence as a deliberate state-linked plot targeting him amid rising political tensions ahead of the 2027 elections.

Earlier, the DP had come out guns blazing, dismissing claims of state-sponsored violence in Othaya and suggesting that the chaos which rocked the Witima ACK Church was a "self-staged" drama designed to garner political sympathy for his predecessor, Rigathi Gachagua.

"Violence, whether organized by political opponents, or by self for sympathy... is a criminal act," Kindiki stated, carefully choosing his words to cast doubt on Gachagua’s narrative.