Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on
Sunday spilled the beans on the
level to which the relationship
with his boss President William
Ruto had sunk.
Speaking after leaving Karen Hospital where he was admitted last Thursday, Gachagua sensationally claimed plots to assassinate him.
He cited two instances where state machinery was unleashed to eliminate him.
“On August 30, in Kisumu, undercover security agents entered my room and bugged it and one of them tried to poison my food, but we detected it and were able to escape the scheme. I was supposed to be killed by food poisoning.”
Gachagua disclosed another attempt in Nyeri, barely a week after. “On September 3, another team from the National Intelligence Service came to Nyeri and tried to poison food that was meant for me and the Kikuyu council of elders,” he stated.
The impeachment came after he thwarted the two attempts on his life. Claiming his life was in danger, he lamented the withdrawal of security officers from his homes in Nairobi and Nyeri, as well as bodyguards.
He accused President Ruto of disobeying court orders, complaining measures had been taken to cripple his office. The Deputy President was removed by MPs after a historic vote in the Senate, following a motion passed by the National Assembly.
At least 236 MPs voted to have him replaced by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, triggering contestation on who is the rightful holder of the post.
As courts decide the conflict, the DP is crying foul that the President has not been kind enough to him, saying he deserved better having contributed to their victory in the 2022 presidential poll.
“It is unfortunate that my brother ordered the withdrawal of my security from the hospital. I have been here without a single officer…he ordered the withdrawal of security guards in my rural home in Nyeri, my home here in Karen,” Gachagua said.
Officers were disarmed and told not to go near him. “I did not know that President William Ruto could be that vicious. I am shocked at how vicious a man I helped to be President, a man that I believed in and was persecuted while supporting, could be so vicious against me when I am literally fighting for my life in the hospital. How cruel can a man be?”
Gachagua maintained by virtue of the court orders stopping the implementation of the Senate outcome, he deserved his state entitlements.
“I am aware that a judge seated in Kerugoya and another in Milimani gave conservatory orders staying the proceedings of the Senate. This technically means I am the Deputy President. As we speak today, the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya has no single security around him.”
He said scaling down his security and sending his officers on leave was meant to cripple his operations. Gachagua further lamented he had no official transport.
“Last night, all vehicles of officers who work under me were impounded,” he said. He had no grudge against anybody, but the turn of events had shocked him. “I had not seen that in President Ruto…the man I am seeing is not the one that I thought I knew…”
Gachagua further alleged there were orders to stop him from using any airport or helicopter to Kwale for the Mashujaa Day fete.
“Wilson Airport was told that I should not go through the airport. All owners of private choppers were told that I should not be allowed to use any of them to Kwale. I don’t understand.”
It was regrettable he was being persecuted yet he was the only one who supported the President unconditionally when everyone else insisted on written agreements.
“I trusted President Ruto, the people of the region I come from trusted him…Nobody trusted him and demanded they sign an MOU. I am the only man who trusted him because we are Christians…we used to go church together,” Gachagua said.
The DP further revealed his ties with Ruto have been thorny for the past year and the Senate bloodbath was just a culmination. His crime was to tell the king he was naked, as he opposed the Adani deals, forceful evictions, tax measures, and the housing levy.
He further alleged the President was persecuting him for venturing into a territory his Cabinet colleagues got mellow on.
“I am the only man in Cabinet who can stand against the President. Nobody else can tell him off."
To the DP, the 2010 constitution wants an elected Deputy President as a buffer against the excesses of the President. Ruto wanted him out of the way “to appoint a puppet they can control”.
Gachagua maintained he was ready to face the Senate, adding he trusted the Judiciary would deliver him justice in his fight for the second-most powerful job.
While challenging the speed at which the transition happened, Gachagua said he should have been given an opportunity at the Senate, and the proceedings had no deadline.
The DP was absent when Speaker Amason Kingi asked that he be
called to testify and be cross-examined by National Assembly lawyers.