Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has apologised to his late brother Nderitu Gachagua over the linkage of his property to corruptly acquired assets.
Nderitu died on February 24, 2017, at the Royal Marsden Hospital, in London, United Kingdom.
He was 63 and serving as the first Nyeri Governor.
Gachagua says properties listed as part of his assets, which Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse claims were acquired corruptly, belong to his late elder brother.
The DP said he owes Nderitu an apology, posthumously, for his legally acquired properties that he bestowed to his wife and children being subjected to public debate as proceeds of crime.
“My dear brother, rest in peace and forgive me for having joined politics, because were it not for politics, you would not suffer this shame. Your children are crestfallen as they see their properties being splashed in newspapers as proceeds of crime,” Gachagua said.
He spoke during a press conference at his official residence in Karen, Nairobi, hours before he was slated to appear before the National Assembly to defend himself against the impeachment allegations.
The DP said Mutuse missed facts in his motion by a huge margin, as the assets he listed as suspects are all documented in Nderitu’s will.
He said he was only an appointed executor of the will, which he said Nderitu wrote some two or three weeks before his death. Gachagua said Nderitu appointed him in that role alongside his close friend Mwangi Mathenge, a quantity surveyor, and lawyer Njoroge Regeru.
“I trust he (Mutuse) was just given a document to sign. Had he taken some bit of time to do some research, he would not embarrass himself in the national assembly,” he said.
Gachagua said among Nderitu’s properties is the Olive Garden hotel, now at the centre of the impeachment motion as a corruptly acquired asset by him.
Others are Vipingo Beach Resort, Queens Gate Apartment, and Lang’ata Highrise flats, assets MP Mutuse has listed as part of the DP’s corruptly acquired Sh5.2 billion property in just two years.
“Those properties were constructed and were in operation when Nderitu Gachagua was alive. I take this opportunity to ask for forgiveness from my late brother that today, as your younger brother defends himself, he will defile your privacy by distributing your will that you wrote in privacy,” Gachagua said.