Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua started the week by sensationally claiming there were two botched plots by spies to assassinate him.
Gachagua, who is on the verge of falling from grace to grass, spoke at lengthy how his hotel room in Kisumu was bugged by security operatives when he accompanied President William Ruto for a tour of Nyanza.
The ex-DP alleged a scheme by the agents to assassinate him through food poisoning at the hotel but that his team detected the plot and thwarted it.
In a week of heightened drama, Gachagua also claimed that the same agents attempted to poison his food during a meeting with the Kikuyu Council of Elders in Nyeri but the scheme also flopped.
"On August 30, while I was in Kisumu, there was an assassination attempt on me after my food was poisoned. Gladly, we found out early enough. The second time was in Nyeri where I was meeting the Kikuyu Council of Elders," Gachagua said.
It was the same week that Gachagua’s fortunes appeared to dwindle after the State withdrew his security and official cars as he recuperated at the Karen Hospital.
This was hours after the National Assembly unanimously approved Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki as his replacement at Harambee House Annex, effectively stripping Gachagua of the trappings of power.
Gachagua disclosed that his personal security and that at his Karen and Nyeri homes was withdrawn while he was undergoing treatment at the hospital.
His staff were also sent on compulsory leave and some of his official vehicles repossessed on Saturday night.
"For now my health comes first. While I was here Ruto ordered withdrawal of my security here, in Nyeri and Karen. Officers close to me were disarmed. I did not know Ruto could be that vicious, a man I helped become president. How cruel can he be?” Gachagua said after being discharged from hospital on his request.
“I bear no grudge," he said even as he expressed disappointment at the turn of events.
Gachagua's motorcade was withdrawn and he left the hospital compound in a private car with his family, including sons and spouse, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi.
His key staff were sent on compulsory leave including tens of those he hired after he assumed office as deputy president.
Details of his loss of power and influence came to the limelight on Sunday afternoon after he left the Karen hospital in a Toyota SUV, a complete opposite of his top-of-the-range state cars and a litany of security.
Speaking at the hospital where he also revealed the assassination claims, Gachagua asked President Ruto not to punish him or his family any further.
“So President William Ruto, my brother, I helped you to be president. Leave me alone. Leave my children alone. Do whatever you want, but let me live. Let me look after my children," Gachagua said.
On the background of the allegations, the DCI invited the indicted DP to record a statement as “these are serious allegations coming from a person of your stature and cannot be taken lightly”.
“In light of the seriousness of this matter, we kindly request your presence on October 22, 2024, at the DCI headquarters, Mazingira Complex-Kiambu Road, to formally record your statement to enable prompt thorough investigations into the matter,” the DCI wrote.
Police were deployed along Kiambu Road and at the DCI headquarters in anticipation of Gachagua’s visit but he snubbed the invitation.
Instead, the former Mathira MP spent hours in court as his lawyers pushed to challenge the legality of a bench constituted by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu to hear a case seeking to lift orders barring Kindiki from assuming office as DP.
An officer at the DCI headquarters said they had prepared to receive Gachagua.
“Those allegations he made were very serious and we want to get to the bottom of the matter. However, he did not show up and this will stall our investigations. Nevertheless, it was not a summon, so it is within his right to decide to come or not,” he said.
On Wednesday, the three-judge bench ruled that it was properly constituted to hear and determine the matter, dealing Gachagua a major blow.
In the same week, top officials of the UDA party revealed a plan to kick Gachagua out as deputy party leader.
President Ruto is the UDA party leader.
The UDA constitution states that the deputy president shall be the party's deputy leader.
It emerged that there had been plans to expand the UDA leadership, with two more deputy party leader positions proposed to be created.
The Star established that UDA is planning to convene a National Executive Council meeting within 14 days to ratify Gachagua's removal from office as deputy party leader.
The NEC meeting will also initiate the process of expelling Gachagua from the UDA party following internally laid down procedures.
The expulsion would also open another protracted legal battle with Gachagua if he chooses to fight on to remain a UDA member despite his removal from office as DP and deputy party leader.
Should Gachagua be successfully kicked out from UDA as a member and cleared by the courts, he is unlikely to seek any political seat in 2027 on the party's ticket.
"We do not recognise Gachagua as the UDA deputy party leader," stated UDA National Treasurer, Japhet Nyakundi.
The Kitutu Chache North MP said that UDA will soon hold a NEC meeting to pick Gachagua's replacement.
"The NEC will soon convene and instal a new deputy party leader to take the place of Gachagua," Nyakundi said.