What unfolded in Nyeri yesterday was not an accident. It was a script — old, tired, and dangerous — carefully staged to create fear, confusion, and sympathy for one man. Rigathi Gachagua’s mchezo wa taon was on full display.
Early in the day, Nyeri residents watched in disbelief as groups of men armed with jembe sticks roamed the town. They did not look like concerned citizens. They looked imported, organized, and purposeful. Their mission was clear: unsettle the town, intimidate traders, and create an atmosphere of panic. Businesses slowed, people kept away, and fear spread — exactly as planned.
Then came the second act. Gachagua rushed to social media, accusing the government and the Inspector General of orchestrating the chaos to stop him from visiting Nyeri. The victim card was played swiftly and loudly. According to him, the state was out to silence him, to block his movement, to persecute him.
But lies struggle to survive daylight.
When Gachagua finally emerged for his meeting, Nyeri residents saw something chillingly familiar. The same men earlier seen wielding jembe sticks were now escorting him — not harassing him, not blocking him, but protecting and guiding him to the venue. The supposed instruments of state intimidation had suddenly become his security detail.
That moment exposed everything.
This was not government oppression. It was political theatre. Chaos was planned, fear was planted, and blame was shifted. That is mchezo wa taon — create a problem, cry persecution, then appear as the brave victim standing against an imagined enemy.
The tragedy is that this game has consequences. Nyeri is a business town. Fear kills trade. Tribal rhetoric kills trust. When leaders deliberately destabilize towns for political mileage, it is ordinary people who pay the price — traders, workers, and families trying to survive.
Kenya does not need manufactured martyrs. Mt Kenya does not need politics of fear. And Nyeri residents are not fools. They saw the script, they saw the actors, and they understood the play.
History will remember yesterday not as persecution, but as exposure.
