US Senator Chris Coons (left) meets Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in Nairobi at a past event.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has claimed he is privy to meetings Kenyan government officials had with leaders of armed groups involved in conflict in the region, including Sudan.
Mr Gachagua said he will share the information he accessed during his tenure as deputy president between 2022 and 2024 with the American government should an investigation a senator wants the US Senate to authorise President Donald Trump’s administration to undertake get underway.
US President Donald Trump (left) and his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto.
"I was a deputy president in this government when many meetings took place and I have all the details...And we are giving those details to the Americans. And we are right here in America," Mr Gachagua told a forum at Olathe, Kansas City in the US where he is on a two months visit.
Mr Gachagua claimed President William Ruto’s response to the imminent US probe into Kenya’s ties with American rivals, links to armed groups and human rights violations including abductions, in which he justified Kenya’s bond to China citing trade benefits was not convincing.
"There is real panic in Nairobi. I saw the president fumbling with words trying to explain himself but trying to digress from real issues. He was saying that Americans have an issue with him because he has a relationship with China. The president attempted to pushback by saying that he is having a relationship with China because it is good for the country,” Mr Gachagua said. “It is good that I tell him why the Americans have joined Kenyans in having a problem with him and his government.”
He added: "The Americans have just heard the cry of the Kenyan people and they are ready to carry out an investigation to unearth your government's shady dealings that threaten the global peace as well as assaulting human rights of Kenyans.”
The former DP said he has evidence that senior government officials severally met with General Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) involved in armed conflict in Sudan.
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti).
"The US has a zero-tolerance policy on terrorist groups, and any perceived connections to such groups could impact Kenya's status as a Major Non-Nato Ally. You cannot run away from it because we have the evidence," Mr Gachagua said.
In January, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Hemedti, noting for nearly two years, his RSF has engaged in a brutal armed conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces for control of Sudan, killing tens of thousands, displacing 12 million Sudanese, and triggering widespread starvation.
Before he was ousted from office after impeachment by Parliament last October, Mr Gachagua had also received Hemedti on arrival at JKIA but he later insisted he had been instructed by his boss, President Ruto, to accord him the reception.
Mr Gachagua who attended the 'Peace Through Strength: Nuclear Weapons 80 Years Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki Conference' at the Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, said he has already met with senior officials of the Trump administration.
"I had the pleasure of engaging with Brig Gen Paul Tibbets IV, the Deputy Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command and Deputy Commander, Air Forces Strategic-Air, of the USA Strategic Command," he said.
Mr Gachagua urged President Trump to take great interest in the Kenyan government and warned that the concerns the President needs to confront are well known.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
"You have compromised world security in pursuit of your business interests and this time around you will not escape. You may push around people in Kenya, you may harass everybody in Kenya but I don't think you have the capacity to harass the American government. They have you under the radar, you can run but you cannot hide. Your day is coming. The evidence is there," Mr Gachagua claimed.
The chairman of Foreign Relations Committee in the US Senate Senator James Risch has presented an amendment to a Bill that seeks to review the status of Kenya as a Major Non-NATO Ally that was conferred on June 24, 2024.
Risch wants the US government to investigate alleged relationships of the Kenyan government with non-state armed groups and violent extremist organisations, including the RSF in Sudan and the Al-Shabaab.
Mr Gachagua claimed he will provide evidence that the Kenyan government has become a financial safe haven for individuals and entities sanctioned by the US government, including individuals and entities based in some neighboring countries.
Extrajudicial killings
Also to be scrutinised, should Congress allow the probe, is how Kenya uses America's security assistance and intelligence support against civilians, especially on abductions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and crackdown on dissenters.
If Senator Risch's amendment to the Bill on 2026 US military spending is passed, it will compel the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence and Director of US National Intelligence to report back to the US Senate within 180 days with information on the Kenyan case.
Already, President Ruto has hit out at Senator Risch saying he is being targeted by the American government over his bilateral relations with the Chinese government.
President Ruto has reiterated that he will push for diplomatic relations that best serve the Kenyan interests.
But Mr Gachagua claimed President Ruto is now cornered.
"As much as you think we are stupid, don't just think we are here in America just moving around. We are also here to put the Kenyan case to the American government, to the Congress," he said.
He said President Ruto's government is a victim of its own undoing.
"These are things that are on the radar of the American security systems. You can play around with people in Kenya but you cannot play around with the American government. They have you on the radar and the evidence is everywhere. You cannot run away from it, so please don't hide behind China," he said.
"The Americans also want to know why the president has removed the requirement of vetting non -Kenyans before they are given citizenship. The Americans are concerned that suspected terrorists will be registered as Kenyans and will find their way into America and the rest of the world and create global terror.
"Your decision to suspend vetting foreigners before they are given registration in Kenya is a threat to world security. It is not Americans who are concerned, Kenyans are concerned too. And you must answer. Your government cannot endanger the security of the world because of business interests. You cannot get away with it," he said.
Mr Gachagua added: "The American government wants to understand why Kenya has become a serious aggressor of human rights".
“They want to know how and why our young children are getting abducted, why they are being murdered and how we were daring even to recently abduct Turkish of American origin on Kenyan soil," Mr Gachagua said.
Mr Gachagua said "the shoot to kill order by Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen and which was amplified by several government allies as well as President's order that dissenters be shot in the legs cannot be denied".
He also cited the July 27, incident in Murang'a County where opposition leaders were "brutalised" by a combined contingent of armed police officers and goons.
"The American leaders could not believe that it was possible for police to attack unarmed civilians...could not believe that it is possible for policemen to escort goons to beat civilians," he said.
He urged US lawmakers to "support Senator Risch's Bill to help Kenya overcome a regime completely gone rogue".
"Let the American House support this Bill. My request is, after it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that all the fears harboured are true as alleged, don't punish Kenya," Mr Gachagua said.
“Don't withhold military aid to Kenya, don't withhold sharing of intelligence with Kenya, don't withdraw all those privileges that come with being recognised an ally of the Nato states," he added.
“All we are asking the American government to do,” he went on, "is once you confirm all these, don't sanction the people of Kenya, or our country. Just do the necessary. Just impose sanctions on President Ruto as a person".
