On the morning of June 25, 2024, Kieni MP Njoroge Wainaina woke up a rich man but slept a pauper, he says.
It was the day of anti-Finance Bill protests led by youths. The MP had no idea what was awaiting him.
Making his first public appearance since the nationwide protests, Mr Wainaina described how the June 25 demonstrations left him impoverished after his two supermarkets in Nyeri and Nanyuki towns were looted and razed.
“In Nanyuki, they burnt my five-storey building. That day I woke up a millionaire, but slept a poor man,” he lamented over losing property he says worth more than Sh500 million.
The MP said he resisted the urge to seek revenge against the looters.
“I instead chose to pray to God to redirect the blessings meant for them to myself,” he said recently, signalling that he was still traumatised by the loss. He also called upon the church to persuade its faithful to return goods stolen from his businesses.
He spoke Wednesday during the burial ceremony of 81-year-old Charles Kariuki, a revered Agikuyu ‘King’ (Muthamaki), in Muruguru village Nyeri County.
The MP appealed to the Presbyterian clergy in attendance to intercede on his behalf with the local community.
“I was robbed by the very people you preach to. These homes are filled with my fridges, cookers and washing machines. Tell them to return them, if they do so willingly, I will not involve the police,” he said.
Mr Wainaina was targeted by protesters for voting “Yes” to Finance Bill 2024. On Wednesday, however, he did not mention the proposed legislation.
In Nyeri town, property worth Sh550 million was destroyed while in Nanyuki, a building which hosted Chieni Supermarket was vandalised.
The Nyeri town outlet has remained closed to the public ever since.
Job losses
Speaking to Nation, his son Joseph Wainaina said the incident saw a total of 322 workers lose their jobs.
“The employees were working at the two supermarkets and a wholesale distribution outlet – which was part of the supermarket in Nyeri town,” he said.
He added that the family is yet to get any further information from the police on whether more suspects had been arrested in connection to the incident.
So far, in Nyeri, about 35 people have been charged with stealing property from the business. They were released on a cash bail of Sh3,000 each while in Nanyuki town, at least 36 people were charged and released on a Sh100,000 cash bail each.
While explaining what he has been through following the ordeal, the MP revealed he was in disbelief that the very people he had willingly helped before getting into politics had turned against him.
He narrated how in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, he donated three lorries of foodstuff in different areas only to later be met with ingratitude.
“I have been a Christian all my life but with what happened to me on that day, I am now starting to doubt Christianity. The looting was ungodly.”
