Leaders allied to the United Alternative Government have threatened to take legal action against Deputy President Kithure Kindiki following a dramatic standoff at a church in Meru County that allegedly prevented them from attending a Sunday service.
The leaders claimed they were blocked from entering Kaaga Methodist Church on Sunday, March 8, where they had planned to attend the induction ceremony of a bishop.
Speaking during a separate church service at EATC Njotene Church, Kalonzo Musyoka, leader of the Wiper Patriotic Front, accused the government of using security agencies to intimidate opposition leaders.
“This morning, the United opposition was denied the chance to witness the induction of a good Bishop,” Kalonzo said.
According to the opposition leader, police officers stationed at the church compound allegedly blocked them from entering, an action he described as a violation of fundamental freedoms.
“This is a deliberate act of political repression carried out at the House of God,” he added.
Kalonzo directly blamed Deputy President Kindiki for what he termed as a coordinated attempt to bar opposition leaders from the same church service that the Deputy President attended and addressed.
While clarifying that the opposition had no dispute with the church leadership or congregation, Kalonzo maintained that the disagreement was purely political.
He argued that deploying police officers to block leaders and members of the public from attending a church service signaled political intolerance.
“The deputy president used the police to bar citizens from worshipping freely. That is not governance. Those are marks of a regime gripped with fear,” Kalonzo stated.
He added that the opposition would explore all legal and constitutional options following the incident.
“We shall be pursuing all available legal and constitutional avenues in response to what happened in Meru today,” he said.
Also present at the Njotene church service was former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who claimed the move to block opposition leaders came after their weekend political engagements across the Meru region.
According to Gachagua, the opposition had been invited to Kaaga Methodist Church to witness the bishop’s inauguration but were stopped shortly after arriving in the county.
“We had been invited by the bishop to Kaaga Methodist to witness his inauguration, but when we got to Meru someone attached to President William Ruto called Kindiki tried to stop us,” Gachagua alleged.
He further claimed that a large contingent of security officers, including personnel from the General Service Unit (GSU), had been deployed around the church to control access.
Despite the standoff, opposition leaders said they would continue their engagements with residents across the region while challenging what they described as political intimidation by the state.
