{"id":15531,"date":"2024-07-04T11:23:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T11:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=15531"},"modified":"2024-07-04T11:23:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T11:23:23","slug":"protesters-disrupt-emali-town-target-supermarket-owned-by-local-politician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/?p=15531","title":{"rendered":"Protesters Disrupt Emali Town, Target Supermarket Owned by Local Politician."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/demonstrations-in-makueni-county-on-july-2-2024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/demonstrations-in-makueni-county-on-july-2-2024.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/demonstrations-in-makueni-county-on-july-2-2024-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Emali Town in Makueni County erupted into chaos on Thursday, July 4, as demonstrators seized Eden Mart Supermarket, owned by a prominent local politician who contested the 2022 parliamentary elections unsuccessfully. The protesters looted goods of unspecified value before proceeding to a nearby hotel, where they forcibly entered and consumed all available resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The predominantly youthful crowd then escalated their protest by blocking the bustling Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, severely disrupting transportation between the two cities for the second time in a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to reports from Emali, the protests initially centered around grievances over the Finance Bill but have since evolved into a local political battleground. Divided into factions aligned with different Kenya Kwanza politicians, the demonstrators have caused widespread fear among business owners, many of whom kept their establishments closed amid concerns of violence and property damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unrest in Emali, located in Kibwezi West Constituency, has marked the most intense anti-government demonstrations in the broader Lower Eastern region, encompassing Machakos, Kitui, and Makueni Counties. Tragically, a young man lost his life during the protests earlier this week when he fell from a moving vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a recent incident, local MP Mwengi Mutuse faced hostility from constituents following his support for the now-retracted Finance Bill, which led to a physical altercation at a local burial ceremony. Despite the controversy, Mutuse, elected on a Maendeleo Chap Chap ticket, reaffirmed his allegiance to President William Ruto after the 2022 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation remains tense as authorities work to restore order in Emali and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emali Town in Makueni County erupted into chaos on Thursday, July 4, as demonstrators seized Eden Mart Supermarket, owned by a prominent local politician who contested the 2022 parliamentary elections unsuccessfully. The protesters looted goods of unspecified value before proceeding to a nearby hotel, where they forcibly entered and consumed all available resources. The predominantly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","category-political-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/demonstrations-in-makueni-county-on-july-2-2024.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15533,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15531\/revisions\/15533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getufm.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}