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War of words as CS Kinyanjui clashes with Gachagua, United Opposition team in Murang’a
From right: Trade CS Lee Kinyanjui and United Opposition leaders Justin Muturi, Martha Karua, Fred Matiangi and Rigathi Gachagua during a funeral service in Muranga County on February 6, 2026.
Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui on Friday clashed with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua-led United Opposition team during a burial ceremony in Murang'a County, accusing them of turning solemn funerals into political battlegrounds.
Mr Kinyanjui was speaking at the burial of Matriarch Jane Wanjiku, 96, at Githima village in Kigumo constituency, when tensions escalated into a shouting match that nearly erupted into a confrontation.
When Mr Kinyanjui rose to speak, Mr Jamleck Kamau had to first appeal to mourners to be tolerant and allow the CS time to address them.
Mr Kinyanjui tore into the United Opposition stalwarts, accusing them of transforming burial ceremonies into political duels full of intolerance.
He reminded Mt Kenya people that "just the other day we were demonising other communities for transforming burial ceremonies into political conflict platforms, but nowadays we are outdoing them".
Mr Kinyanjui braved shouts of Wantam (a clarion call for the opposition pushing for President William Ruto to serve only one-term) from mourners as he urged them to keep politics out of burials.
He added as some mourners rose in a bid to charge: "You cannot be telling us that you are uniting our community and the country, but you are here ridiculing those not speaking your political language."
"You must know that 2027 election will involve all Kenyans, not Mt Kenya people alone," Mr Kinyanjui said. "In 2024, you raided former President Uhuru Kenyatta's farm...there were no strangers in that raid, it involved members of this community."
He defended President Ruto’s administration against blame over abductions and extrajudicial killings.
"Those vices started with some of you here who were in government. Don't speak to us as if Kenya is ending today. The 2027 election will be about legacy, not Wantam or Tutam shouts," he said.
Mr Kinyanjui and nominated MP Sabina Chege later walked out of the burial before United Opposition principals addressed mourners.
When Mr Gachagua rose to speak, he expressed disappointment over their departure.
United Opposition leaders Fred Matiangi and Rigathi Gachagua during a funeral service in Muranga County on February 6, 2026.
"I see the CS has left after telling us that we are exercising divisive and violent politics. It is unfortunate he has left before I could tell him to go and tell his boss Ruto to stop entertaining violence and divisions in the mountain, especially targeting churches,” said the former DP.
Mr Gachagua claimed he had a dossier detailing how government operatives planned the January 25, 2026 attack at Anglican Witima Church in Othaya constituency, Nyeri County.
In the incident, perceived rogue police officers partnering with goons and backed by official patrol cars raided the church using live bullets, teargas and stones as Mr Gachagua worshipped inside, forcing him to be evacuated through bushes.
"Mr Kinyanjui...Go and tell Ruto to stop the violence, to insist that no leader finances violence. He knows of a killer grouping called Nairobi Sierra, which is the squad that raided Witima church, commanded by a senior Nairobi police officer," he said.
He added that there is another squad based in Rift Valley that had provided a sharpshooter to partner with the group.
"We know that the Interior ministry is not keen on investigations because it was complicit in the attack. We have a detailed dossier about how that raid was planned and executed and we will release it soon," he said.
"Stealing and bragging"
The burial ceremony was also attended by United Opposition principals Fred Matiang'i (Jubilee Party), Justin Muturi (DP) and Martha Karua (PLP).
Ms Karua said: "We don't have any sensible leadership in this country...what we have is an entity that does not respect people, only stealing and bragging."
She argued that unity within the opposition was the only way forward.
"Unity in the United opposition is the only way out... We need unity, respect...where we present one of us to take on this incumbent...then proceed to vote as a bloc and also guard our votes because this government can steal them".
She also warned against premature elevation of one leader.
"So far, we have no first among equals. Don't sell one of us as our collective leader. For now, we are all equal. First among equals is after we give one the ticket to be our flag bearer," she said.
Dr Matiang'i dismissed the Ruto government as a living shame.
"This government is a shame and it is led through hypocrisy. It is in churches that we have bad leaders taking millions. By their work you shall know them. What did you do when your country was in danger? That will be the question generations will ask us," he said.
He urged leaders to be national-minded. "It is stupidity to preach divisions. Let us not think locally, let us unite with other Kenyans," he said.
Former Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju also cautioned against divisive politics and urged the church to help heal the nation.
"The church should heal this country. We must be fully aware of the consequences of a divided country. My cousin lost an arm in the 2007/08 post-election violence on grounds that I supported President Mwai Kibaki," he said.
"If this country burns, none will be safe. We have similar problems, especially of educated professional children who will never get jobs until their death...those are the problems that should be uniting us".
Mr Muturi accused the government of looting through budgeted corruption.
"We have reports of 87,000 ghost students who every term are used to siphon more than Sh1.5 billion of our taxes...We are now heading to ghost polling stations but we will defeat that scheme," he said.
Earlier, opposition-allied leaders led by Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu, Nyandarua Senator John Methu, Kajiado North MP Onesmus Ngogoyo and Nginda MCA John Mwangi ignited tensions by dismissing President Ruto’s loyalists as sellouts.
"I want to ask Sabina Chege why she associates with President Ruto and his bad government. You cheat him that he is loved in the mountain but when here, where the people are, you avoid praising him. Why are you cheating Ruto?" Mr Ngogoyo posed.
Mr Nyutu said: "President Ruto leads a government that contradicts three important God's commandments; don't kill, don't tell lies and don't steal."
Mr Methu accused President Ruto of tricking Mt Kenya people in 2022, noting that he would not be lucky in 2027 since they're united to vote him out.
Mr Mwangi declared, "Come 2027, we are determined to put all those who are loyal to President Ruto in one sack of rejection."
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