Kenya Kwanza running mate Rigathi Gachagua was forced to cut short his speech at a rally in Meru after chaos broke out.
In the incident that occurred on Wednesday, July 13, a group of rowdy youth are said to have caused mayhem at the event by pelting stones at Gachagua and other leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto.
Gachagua had earlier presided over peaceful rallies but his stopover at Mutuati was marred by violence with police forced lobe teargas canisters to disperse the charged crowd.
Unknown number of people, who were in attendance, sustained injuries during the fracas.
Meru Senator Mithika Linturi blamed their rivals for the skirmishes while Gachagua was flown out of the venue to safety.
Some of the area residents scampered for safety in the nearby Mutuati Sub County hospital temporarily disrupting its operations.
Earlier, Gachagua had addressed several centers during his tour including at Kimongoro Market and Igembe in the same county.
During his tour, Rigathi promised that should the DP ascend to the Presidency in the upcoming August 9 elections, he will nominate a resident of Meru to serve as the ambassador in Somalia.
He further noted that the Kenya Kwanza alliance had created a plan to reduce National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) contributions.
"The ambassador should have been educated by proceeds from miraa trade. The ambassador's parents should be miraa traders. The Kenya-Somalia Ambassador who will go to foster miraa trade will come from Igembe
"We have also sorted treatment costs and we will reduce NHIF contributions from Ksh500 to Ksh300. The government will pay for those suffering from extreme poverty," he stated.
During his address, Gachagua also hit out at President Uhuru Kenyatta accusing him of instigating the firing of Kenya University Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina.
"We’ve seen our President fire the KU VC Prof. Wainaina. How come you are using force to fire the professor till he cries in front of children. Stop firing people, pack go home.
"The professor has done nothing wrong, he has only refused impunity. You can’t take university land without due process," he added.
