This archive report was first published on 29 June 2019.
On June 29, 2019, a group of unruly youths disrupted Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri's meeting in Gatitu, Nyeri county.
The clash was allegedly planned a day earlier by local political brokers allied to the Kieleweke team.
According to reports, the youths accused Kiunjuri of being used by Deputy President William Ruto to advance his presidential ambitions.
CS Kiunjuri had gone to launch a water project in the area, but his efforts to calm down the crowd proved futile.
He was forced to cut short his speech amidst jeers from the crowd.
"We are not here for political reasons, this is a national government project and every leader attending this meeting should be respected," Kiunjuri said amidst the chaos.
However, the meeting was soon taken over by Nyeri MP Wambugu Ngunjiri and his supporters, who accused Kiunjuri of using the occasion to politic instead of genuinely advancing government development agenda.
"We will not allow government officials to use national government projects to politic and advance their own interests in our region," the MP said in his Kikuyu dialect.
He later shared a tweet accusing Kiunjuri of taking advantage of his position to seek popularity in preparation to becoming Ruto's running mate in 2022.
