Matiang’i: Insiders in govt behind recent violence and protests
Presidential aspirant Fred Matiang’i has claimed that there are people inside the government behind the ongoing protest and violence witnessed in the country in recent times.
Speaking during a live interview with Kameme TV on Monday, July 14, 2025, Matiang’i affirmed that he was speaking from a point of knowledge as a former government official.
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He affirmed that the government cannot claim to be ignorant about the people facilitating the violence in the country.
Feigning ignorance?
“The information we have is that some of the goons were probably planned by leaders from the government. I was an interior minister for five years, and I am not speaking in jest. I know and understand the government like the back of my hand, having been in there for some years,” he said.
“This chaos we are witnessing of people going around and terrorising Kenyans, you cannot tell me the government doesn’t know what is happening. Which government can say it doesn’t know what is happening? For a long time in Kenya, we have been saying the government has a long arm. Where has it gone now?” he posed.
The politician has further asked the government to crack down on the matter, stressing that they cannot play the same game, making allegations alongside the opposition over who is behind the violence.
His remarks come after what have been allegations and counter-allegations from both the government-allied and opposition politicians over who has been behind the goons during protests.
Gachagua on goons
Speaking on the matter during a past interview on Friday, June 27, 2025, Citizens Party (DCP) party leader Rigathi Gachagua fired back at President William Ruto’s allies over claims that he was sponsoring goons during the June 25, 2025, Gen Z memorial protests.
The former deputy president questioned why the goons were not arrested if they were indeed his.
Gachagua also questioned why the government did not take action if indeed it had intelligence that he was planning to sponsor goons during the protests.
“I don’t know how fragile this government is. That a CS Interior is walking in the streets of Nairobi in the morning, and you are saying that was an attempted coup. If they had intelligence that goons were being paid by Rigathi Gachagua or anyone else, why did they not arrest these goons?” he said.
He went ahead to claim that if the goons who wreaked havoc during the protests were his, they would have been shot or would be in custody by now.
“If they were my goons today, they would have been shot dead or in custody. Whey, if they had intelligence that Gachagua or anyone else had paid goons to come and cause mayhem in Nairobi, why didn’t they act on that intelligence? How did they allow goons to go to a police station unarmed and take over our police stations?” Gachagua said.
Gachagua on Nairobi looting
Further, Gachagua claimed that the looting that was witnessed in Nairobi was done in the dark under the supervision of the police shortly after the arrival of the goons, whom he says entered the city at 6:00 pm.
“I think the CS Interior must respect the people of Kenya. It is evident that in Nairobi, the real goons came after 6:00 pm, and downtown Nairobi, in Nyamakima, River Road, Taveta Road, and Luthuli Avenue, the havoc and looting were done in darkness under the supervision of the police. Why were these gangs not shot?” Gachagua questioned.
