‘Pure madness!’ Ichung’wah blasts Gachagua over claims of stage-managing violence

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah has rubbished claims by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that he stage-managed the torching of public buildings in his constituency, terming the allegations “pure madness.”

The Kikuyu MP was responding to Gachagua’s earlier press briefing, where the ousted DP claimed that recent attacks on a police station and the Kikuyu Law Courts were orchestrated to frame his allies and paint them as criminals.

In a heavily worded statement on Wednesday, Ichung’wah hit back, accusing Gachagua of fuelling hate and chaos to save his close associates who, according to him, were caught on camera engaging in criminal acts during the anti-government protests on June 25.

“The only person responsible for Gachagua’s political failure is Gachagua himself. His downfall was not engineered by anybody other than himself. It was brewed in his pot by his politics of lies, intimidation, and calculated chaos,” he said.

He pointed out that the arrests of Gachagua’s allies—including MPs and youth leaders accused of inciting violence and looting—were not political but grounded on “clear, damning evidence.”

The lawmaker specifically pointed to the case of Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji, who was arrested after being allegedly caught on camera mobilising gangs to loot Spur Mall along Thika Road and the attacks on his family, revealing that during the June protests, his home and that of his elderly parents in Kikuyu were targeted by mobs.

“Gachagua’s allies, whom he has sponsored and shielded, are not victims. They are perpetrators, charged in courts of law. Justice is not found at press conferences or on social media; it is found in the courtroom,” Ichung’wah stated.

“Thanks to my neighbours and patriotic officers, an attempt to torch my house and that of my parents was repulsed."

The MP dismissed Gachagua’s claims that the arrests of his allies are part of a broader political persecution by President William Ruto and his administration.

“Don’t mistake accountability for persecution… Name-dropping the President or me will not rescue Gachagua or his co-conspirators. Kenya sees through the madness,” he said.

Ichung’wah further described as “sickening stage-play” Gachagua’s past allegations that MP George Koimburi had been abducted and poisoned with “some poisonous gases,” saying the former DP had consistently peddled falsehoods to gain sympathy.

At the same time, the MP sustained support for Gachagua’s impeachment, saying Parliament acted in the best interest of the country to prevent what he termed as “political thuggery.”

“It was not President William Ruto nor Kimani Ichung’wah who got him impeached. He got himself impeached. Through violence. Through lies. Through pure political thuggery. And today, Kenya sees why,” he said.

In his accusations on Wednesday, Gachagua said, “I heard the president say that people have attacked police stations and the law courts. It was all stage-managed by a Kikuyu MP. How do you explain that unharmed people can walk into police stations and take over the station from armed police officers? How do you go to courts guarded by armed police stations and torch them?"