A viral video circulating online has ignited widespread condemnation after capturing a local opinion leader from Ziwa Ward, Uasin Gishu County, delivering reckless and inflammatory remarks during a political gathering.
The event, attended by senior county officials, including members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly, saw no immediate objections to the ethnically divisive rhetoric, raising alarm about political intolerance in Kenya’s Rift Valley.
Shared widely by blogger Cyprian Nyakundi, the video has fueled calls for accountability amid escalating tensions ahead of the Saba Saba protests on July 7, 2025.
The remarks, delivered at a public event in Ziwa, a key agricultural hub in Soy Sub-County, come at a time when Kenya grapples with deepening ethnic and political divisions.
The opposition, led by figures like Rigathi Gachagua, has accused President William Ruto’s administration of fostering repression, with recent protests in Eldoret and Bungoma marked by violence.
Uasin Gishu, a cosmopolitan region known as the “City of Champions,” has faced similar issues before, with hate leaflets circulating in Kipkaren Estate in 2021, prompting Governor Jackson Mandago to demand arrests.
A video circulating online captures a local opinion leader from Ziwa Ward in Uasin Gishu County publicly issuing reckless and inflammatory remarks during a political gathering.
— Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) July 5, 2025
What is particularly unsettling is that the remarks were delivered during a public event attended by… pic.twitter.com/J6hkzaHmJk
The incident follows Gachagua’s allegations of a police-goons plot at Sun City Hotel in Nyeri to disrupt Saba Saba protests, intensifying fears of orchestrated violence.
Ziwa Ward, previously celebrated for infrastructure projects like the Ziwa Machine Water Project and new roads, now risks becoming a flashpoint for ethnic tensions.
Activists, including Haki Africa, have urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to probe the remarks, citing their potential to incite violence in a region with a history of election-related unrest.
