Mr Gachagua is already using the official residence to hold regular meetings even as the planned renovation works are still ongoing, those aware of his plans told the Nation.
He has been alternating his official meetings between his Harambee House Annex office and the Karen official residence. The building that was opened in November 2012 by former President Mwai Kibaki is where the second-in-command will be living for the next five years together with his office staff.
Sitting on 10 acres, the sprawling structure cost the taxpayer Sh400 million and features a main house, two master bedrooms, three children’s rooms, and a guest wing.
It also includes a four-bedroom caretaker’s house, an office block with a boardroom lounge, and an equipped media centre. Other features include a guest house and staff quarters which are six two-bedroom houses and three one-bedroom houses. Outside the residence, there is also a six-vehicle garage, a backup generator room, a gazebo equipped with a sauna and a gym, and a 20 cubic-metre swimming pool.
Of interest, however, is how Mr Gachagua will use the mansion, especially with the precedence set by Dr Ruto, who organised almost daily meetings with lobbying organisation and community and professional groups in the run-up to the polls. He would often use such meetings to make critical political statements.
At the tail end of his reign as Kenya’s first Deputy President—the office that was elevated to one that is won in a joint ticket with the presidential candidate and enjoys the security of tenure—Dr Ruto shunned his Harambee Annex office, choosing to spend all his time on the campaign trail and the Karen residence.
For Mr Gachagua, the return to the mansion, this time as the official tenant, is a deja vu moment, as it was here where he was unveiled as Dr Ruto’s running mate after 16 hours of deliberation. Mr Gachagua, as a close confidant of the then Deputy President, was also a regular visitor here.
“The Deputy President is already operating from the residence and he will be moving into it early next year. He will be using it to carry out his official duties according to the constitution,” the DP’s office said in a response to the Nation’s query on Mr Gachagua’s plan for the house.
President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua with their spouses Rachel Ruto and Pastor Dorcas Rigathi during a church service at the DP's Karen residence.
Photo credit: DPPS
In a previous interview with KTN News , Mr Gachagua said he has an emotional attachment to his current Karen home—just a few blocks from the official residence—and where he has stayed in for the past 24 years.
Therefore, he said in the interview, moving out was a difficult decision for him to make.
“I have such an emotional attachment to this home. My children grew up here. My parents lived with me here for many years. It is a very nostalgic decision for me to walk away and start a new home,” Mr Gachagua said.
“The things that are going on around me are very momentous. I’m yet to acclimatise, digest and accept the new situation and the status and all... it is very overwhelming... I will need to take some time but, in due course, I will move into the official residence,” he added.
After parting ways with his-then boss, former President Uhuru Kenyatta , Dr Ruto retreated into his official mansion strategising on his next political moves as he positioned himself to succeed Mr Kenyatta.
He hosted several delegations from across the country where he dished out goodies during these meetings as he popularised his “hustler movement”.
Even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when his movements across the country were curtailed, Dr Ruto still met delegations and dished out goodies to his supporters.
So regular were the meetings that leaders drawn from Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party criticised the move to use his official residence as a campaign platform in the run-up to the August 9 polls. The leaders had petitioned the electoral agency over President Ruto’s alleged use of state resources to campaigns.
Former President Kenyatta’s allies, including Jubilee Party Vice Chairperson David Murathe, threatened to evict Dr Ruto from the residence over what they said was the misuse of the premises.
For Mr Gachagua, being cut of the same political cloth as his boss, it would be unlikely that he will drop the political significance of the residence and the flexibility such a house offers to host large delegations.
The Deputy President’s wife, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, has been operating from the residence where she holds regular meetings with delegates from all over the country.
These meetings often revolve around his empowerment programmes for boys, widows, orphans, and people living with disabilities.
A few weeks ago, Mr Gachagua hosted, in the company of his spouse, host popular Ghanaian preacher Dag Heward Mills of the Light House Chapel at the Karen mansion.
