The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition presidential running mate Martha Karua on Tuesday blasted rowdy youth who attempted to disrupt her rally in Mathira, Nyeri County on Tuesday.

The Azimio team was on a vote hunting mission in the vote-rich Mount Kenya region, albeit Karua and her principal Raila Odinga took different trails, making several stopovers in Nyeri before converging for a joint rally.

However, Kaura’s team encountered a group of rowdy youth in Mathira where she was heckled while trying to speak to the people by people who were chanting pro-Kenya Kwanza Alliance slogans and shouting Rigathi Gachagua’s name.

The former Mathira MP Ephraim Maina who accompanied Karua tried to pacify the charged crowd but his calls fell on deaf ears.

While speaking to the people of Mathira, Karua said their opponents had purposed to disrupt her political rally to scare away Azimio supporters from attending the rally.

Karua said Raila and Azimio have gained popularity in the Mount Kenya region, which was considered an impossibility by their opponents in Kenya Kwanza.


“Has Raila gained support in Mt. Kenya or not? We are here, other people had planned to heckle us and cause disruption so that our supporters be scared to attend this rally,” Karua said.

"Our opponents had planned to disrupt our meeting to scare us but I am not easily scared. I want to tell them that we will not threaten or blame them because we are not enemies, just competitors.” 

This is the second instance a political meeting is being disrupted by rowdy youth in Nyeri. The first incident involved Gachagua who was also forced to terminate his speech after the crowd heckled and jeered him while he was trying to address them.