Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has revealed that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has been a marked man since the period the ruling UDA was scouting for a running mate for its presidential candidate William Ruto.
In a candid interview on Citizen TV, the fierce critic of the Ruto administration said Gachagua got the top honours much to the chagrin of the majority of UDA members who were vouching for Interior CS Kithure Kindiki to be second in command.
The revelation comes at a time when MPs from both the government and the opposition side have reportedly ganged up in a rare show of unity and signed an impeachment motion against the DP ahead of the tabling of the ouster bid in Parliament on Tuesday next week.
“His problems started with the majority of those who didn’t want him; they started fighting from the word go,” Wamuchomba said.
“All they do whenever they have access to the President, they always demean him; they always try to push the bad card, and that’s what they have been working towards,” she added.
Ruto unveiled Gachagua as his running mate for the August 8, 2022, presidential elections on May 15, 2022, after what Wamuchomba described as three days of stormy and fiery meetings underpinned by open dislike against Gachagua by the majority of UDA delegates.
She said they failed to reach a consensus at all three meetings but were forced by timelines to pick a candidate from among four contenders on the final day.
According to Wamuchomba, all the candidates were tasked to agree from among themselves on who should deputise Ruto, but they failed to reach a deal forcing the decision to be decided through a vote.
“The candidates that were on the frontline were Ndindi Nyoro, Alice Wahome, Rigathi Gachagua and Prof Kithure Kindiki,” she said.
“We went round one nominations and we dropped Ndindi Nyoro and Alice Wahome.”
Wamuchomba said during the first round of voting, Kindiki beat Gachagua by 11 votes to five as most members failed to vote since they had left the room after nominations.
She said they whipped the members to return and cast their ballots during the second round of voting and again Kindiki emerged favourite, garnering 38 votes against Gachagua’s 21.
But still, there was a stalemate.
“We did not agree, the meeting was scattered and we were told to attend the next day early morning so that we could conclude,” she said.
The MP explained that the disagreement arose from Ruto’s preference for Gachagua despite Kindiki having emerged as a clear winner.
“The President himself wanted Rigathi Gachagua, the 38 members wanted Prof Kithure Kindiki. So we had to justify why we wanted Prof Kindiki vs Rigathi Gachagua. For me, I was supporting Rigathi Gachagua from the word go,” she revealed.
The MP said she used her closeness to the President who was then the DP to advise him to pick Gachagua over Kindiki on the strength of the former’s track record as an administrator.
Gachagua served in the public service for years soon after he graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1988.
He started as an administrator in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Office of the President and later as a district officer (DO) in Kirinyaga, Kakamega and Laikipia between 1990 and 1999.
Wamuchomba said she used this track record to make a strong case for Gachagua and it paid off.
“I told the President, if you go with the popular candidate, these people will swing you all the time because they are the majority and they have the favourable candidate. Get the one who is not liked because this guy even if he is not liked he’s a worker, he’s an administrator; you need an administrator.
“And I even reminded him, ‘Your Excellency, you have never been employed in your life. You need an administrator, somebody who has ever reported in an office, somebody who has worked in the administrative system, somebody who knows how governments are run,” she said.
According to Wamuchomba, Kindiki’s attitude after the second day of voting ended in a stalemate somewhat played out in Gachagua’s favour.
She claimed Kindiki switched off his phone and was unreachable for days prior to the big announcement that Ruto had settled on his rival Gachagua as his running mate.
Wamuchomba said Gachagua and Kindiki were both under instruction to show up on D-day dressed in suits accompanied by their spouses ready for the big news.
“When Prof Kindiki realised that the President wanted Rigathi Gachagua, he switched off his phone and disappeared on us for three days. He even tweeted and wrote on social media: ‘I have had enough’. And so we told the President if the candidate that the people are giving you is running away and switching off his phone, what kind of a deputy President will he be?
“That’s how Rigathi Gachagua became the Deputy President nominee,” Wamuchomba said.