Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Monday, March 18, issued a directive spelling out that going forward, Kenyans caught disrupting political rallies will be arraigned in court.
This followed two incidents over the weekend where hecklers disrupted President Wiliam Ruto’s rallies in Bomet and Kericho counties.
The hecklers, it was reported, were hired hands instructed to express their dissatisfaction with their local leaders.
While holding a consultative forum with the Kericho County Security and Intelligence Committee, Kindiki stated that going forward such behaviour would not be tolerated.
He read malice in the heckling, noting that there was a specific group of high-ranking individuals who were facilitating the now-frequent disruption of political rallies.
As such, he directed Kericho County Commissioner Gabriel Kitiyo and his team to clamp down on the individuals behind the incidents.
“The security team is tasked to reign in on incidents of disorderly conduct in political meetings, conclude investigations and apprehend the organisers, financiers and perpetrators of hooliganism in the County, regardless of their political or social standing,” Kindiki directed.
President William Ruto had earlier warned Bomet residents that he would not tolerate such chaos in his meetings.
He argued that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) was a party of order and the heckling was an unacceptable trend.
Should the residents be dissatisfied with their county bosses, they were asked to be patient until 2027 when they would vote them out.
On Sunday, Deputy Rigathi Gachagua regretted that Rift Valley residents had embarrassed President Ruto through heckling.
“What we saw in Kericho and Bomet during a presidential working tour is disheartening and must stop since all the positive things from the tour were overshadowed by the negatives,” he lamented.
