Political tensions between President William Ruto and his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua appear set to continue being icy.

It boiled when Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) declared intention to charge five of the DP's loyalists over the June/July Gen Z protests.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga later last week approved criminal charges against two Nairobi MPs and three aides of DP Gachagua over violent protests that hit the country.

But on Friday, the targetted ‘big five(5)’ got reprieve when the High Court temporarily stopped their arrest and possible arraignment in court.

The five are Embakasi North MP James Gakuya and his Embakasi Central counterpart Mr Benjamin Gathiru aka Mejja Donk as well as George Theuri, Pius Munene, and Ngunjiri Wambugu.

The protests that lasted a month were to later turn chaotic with looting, arson and physical violence that in turn were responded to by police through extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances and persecutions.

In his letter to the Director of DCI Mohamed Amin, Mr Ingonga said he was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to charge the pro-Gachagua MPs and aides with conspiracy to commit a felony.

"Upon careful perusal, the DPP has directed that there is sufficient evidence to charge the suspects with the offence of conspiracy to commit a felony, contrary to section 393 of the peak code," said the DPP in a statement.

Mr Amin had accused the politicians and aides of planning, mobilising and financing violent protests in Nairobi.

The DCI through a letter by Mr Abdalla Komesha, said that it had launched investigations after it received an intelligence report of how the protests were planned, mobilized and financed.

Following the investigations, the DCI reported that it had arrived to logical conclusion that the five(5) bore culpability after "they were implicated to have participated in several meetings that took place at a hotel in Nairobi".

The five(5) were to face charges about soliciting or inciting others to commit offences contrary to section 391 of the Penal Code, conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the Penal Code, and money laundering.

"Efforts are being made to obtain all financial data from Safaricom and banks where financial transactions were carried out," Mr Komesha said in part in his public disclosure of intent to charge.

The five(5)--two Nairobi MPs and three(3) of Gachagua staff members--have been under investigations since June 26, 2024, a day after Gen Zs protested over Finance Bill, 2024, raiding Parliament precincts among other excesses.

The protests that lasted a month were to later turn chaotic with looting, arson and physical violence that in turn were responded to by police through extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances and persecutions.

Now, after nearly three(3) months of the issue degenerating into a point of political sloganeering and conflict between President and his Deputy's loyalists, immediately police showed intend to charge the five(5), it attracted immediate protest by Mr Gachagua.

Mr Gachagua said "this act of aggression is directed at the Mountain people and aimed at portraying them as criminals hellbent to overthrow a government that they very willfully put in office".

Police and DCI apparatus revealed that they had launched investigations after they received an intelligence report of how the protests were planned, mobilized, and financed.

Following the investigations, the DCI reported that it had arrived to logical conclusion that the five(5) bore culpability after "they were implicated to have participated in several meetings that took place at a hotel in Nairobi".

The five(5) were a month ago grilled by the DCI, once again igniting political tensions in the country after Mr Gachagua protested that all the actions targeting them, were an onslaught against him.

After the DCI leadership in Nairobi was accused by President Ruto's loyalists of dragging feet in nailing Gachagua, a top officer at Vigilance House told AVDelta News that interventions were made that have seen change of guard enacted.

In the September 25, 2024, changes by the unit's Director Mr Amin, new Nairobi Regional Criminal Investigations Officer (RCIO) is Benson Kasyoki who replaces Mr Njeru Nthiga.

Mr Kasyoki has been shopped from Mt Kenya East while Mr Nthiga now moves to Western region in the same capacity.

The new Eastern RCIO is Benard Korir who moves from Western, changes said to be connected in the action against the Gachagua V.

Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri had recently revealed to the country that "the protests had the direct support of Mr Gachagua where together with his loyalists financed infiltration of more than 25,000 hooligans to unleash violence in the capital city".

Termed treasonous

The protests that the president had branded "treasonous plot whose criminal masterminds must be investigated and brought to book have since become political weapon in Mt Kenya against Mr Gachagua".

On Thursday, Mr Gachagua, who has all along denied any involvement in the mayhem that saw some President Ruto loyalists lose property to arson, hit out at the declaration to charge the five(5) saying it was a declaration of political war.

"The use of the criminal justice system to manage politics is an outdated political strategy that was used in the past," he wrote on his social media platforms.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said "for every action there will be a reaction and we are closely following this issue with a view of responding appropriately".

Mr Kahiga said "even political persecutions need some intelligence...we need to also respect persecutions and make them reflective of sanity".

Mr Gachagua who also is facing threats of impeachment, isolation and replacement ahead of 2027 lamented that "President Ruto and I, on assuming office, gave an undertaking to the people of Kenya that never again shall the criminal justice system be called upon to help in the management of politics".

He termed the move as "evil aimed at associating them with the violent aspect of the demonstrations which by extension is a futile attempt to soil my name and hopefully create grounds for the mooted impeachment proceedings against me".

Mr Gachagua said he is embarrassed that the country is back to where it was during demagogic rule of the past.

"The harassment of my office staff and members of parliament perceived to be close to me, has been going on for the last two months...I have learnt of a scheme to prefer trumped-up charges against three(3) members of my staff and the MPs," he said.

Mr Gachagua said "Kenyans are intelligent... They  know what factors made the people of Kenya to take to the streets... Kenyans also know what the real problems in Kenya are and they surely know Gachagua is not among those problems".

Mr Gachagua urged the state security agencies remain professional, follow the rule of law and keep off politics.

During last month's media interview, Mr Gachagua said he felt harassed by attempts to link him to the mayhem, accusing the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as the mastermind in nailing him.

"I demand that the spy master issues a public statement on the Gen Z-led protests. I will no longer accept his rumours that do not even appear to know where to apportion blame. They are groping in the dark by blaming Russia, Ford Foundation and Mt Kenya region tycoons. They must now tell us who is who," he said.

He also demanded that Mr Kiunjuri be made to record a statement regarding his July 25, 2024, claims that Mt Kenya leaders known to him financed the 25,000 claimed hooligans.

"Mr Kiunjuri must tell us how he counted the said hooligans, how he determined their tribes, how they were transported and by what means and the number plates and what evidence he has about their financiers," Mr Gachagua said.

On Thursday, Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago said "it is interesting happening that they want to charge the five".

While he said the elders do not condone any act that might destabilise the country's peace, he said in the same breath he added, elders won't entertain political persecutions to be rolled out in the region.

"If they must charge them, we expect them to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt failure to which we will draw a conclusion that the president's government has thrown Mt Kenya under the bus and we reiterate that we are not short of options," Mr Kiago said.