Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addressing journalists outside Karen Hospital, Nairobi, on October 20, 2024.
Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua insisted he is still in office citing court orders even as he alleged his ouster followed two failed assassination attempts.
Mr Gachagua blamed his tribulations on taking on President Ruto over ills in government, including the controversial multi-billion shilling deals being handed to the Indian conglomerate, Adani Group, punitive taxes in the Finance Bill, 2024, which was withdrawn after public protests and runaway corruption.
He alleged he survived food poisoning twice by persons he believes are agents of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in late August and early September, this year.
Speaking on Sunday after being discharged from Karen Hospital, Mr Gachagua said his State security had been withdrawn, he feared for his life and that should anything happen to him President William Ruto should be held to account.
Appearing in the public for the first time since he fell ill on Thursday and was rushed to hospital hours before taking to the stand during his impeachment trial in the Senate, an evidently frail but determined Gachagua, flanked by his wife and family, said the fight to retain his seat is still far from over.
The Senate voted to remove him from office after upholding charges brought against him by the National Assembly but a State plan to swear in his replacement, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, on Saturday, a day after the National Assembly endorsed the president’s nomination, was derailed by the courts that have suspended implementation of the Senate resolution.
“I want to tell the people of Kenya that I do not feel safe. For the first time, let me say that on August 30, 2024, in Kisumu, undercover security agents entered my room in Kisumu and bugged it. One of them tried to poison my food but we detected it and we were able to escape the scheme. I was supposed to be killed through poisoning. On September 3, 2024, in Nyeri, 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,” Mr Gachagua alleged.
Failed assassination attempts
He said he then reported these attempts to the NIS and asked the officers assigned to his office to leave because “I did not feel safe.” He now believes that these failed assassination attempts paved the way for his impeachment.
Mr Gachagua further revealed that shortly after his security was withdrawn, some agents, who he believes are from the NIS, were dispatched to look for him in the hospital and “were hovering in the hospital’s compound and all rooms”.
“…to the extent that I had to call my wife and my children to come and stay in my room just in case they get entry to my room or compromise the people who were treating me. So, Rigathi Gachagua and his family feel very exposed because these people have tried to kill us before. They have now tried to get us out of office,” he said.
State House spokesperson, Hussein Mohamed, had not responded to these allegations made by Mr Gachagua by the time of publication.
It was also during this press briefing that the impeached DP narrated what happened to him before he was rushed to hospital last Thursday when the Senate was discussing his impeachment motion.
He said that he developed very intense chest pains shortly after he left the Senate and called his physician for the past two decades, Dr Dan Gikonyo of Karen Hospital.
“I briefed him on my symptoms, and he asked me about the pain's intensity. As we spoke, I began experiencing shortness of breath, and he instructed me to get to Karen Hospital as quickly as possible, as my symptoms were concerning,” he said.
He then quickly rushed to his car and was driven straight to the hospital. By the time he arrived, he was in significant pain and struggling to breathe.
He found Dr Gikonyo and his paramedics were waiting for him and he was quickly examined and admitted for observation and potential treatment.
“After stabilising, Dr Gikonyo informed me that if I had arrived just 20 minutes later, we would be discussing a very different story. I’m grateful for the excellent care I received from him and his team. Although he would have preferred that I stay longer for observation, I insisted on going home, as he believed I was stable enough to continue my recovery there,” he said.
He, however, admitted to feeling weak but better overall with the intense pain having subsided and thanked Kenyans of goodwill for praying and supporting him during his illness.
Mr Gachagua then threw a salvo at President Ruto accusing him of hatching the plan to replace him with “someone who will be a remote control and will be forced to sign an undated resignation letter and told to leave when he asks questions.”
Truthful man
His problems, he said, were simply because he was a truthful man who would be unfazed under the gaze of the Head of State when decisions he believed to be hurtful to Kenyans were being passed by the Cabinet.
“The framers of the 2010 Constitution were clear about the need for an elected Deputy President. I am the only man in the Cabinet and the whole government who can stand up to William Ruto and tell him “Hey brother, this is not right. This Adani thing is not good for the country, there is too much corruption. This housing thing is being forced on the people of Kenya and they do not want it, so please do not force it on them. We are in a situation where the tender of medical equipment which was being supplied by Kenyans to the Ministry of Health has now been given to a single Asian. I told him, "Mr President, we are killing the business of our people,” he said.
His hope is now in the Judiciary with his lawyers having gone to court to plead his case after the Senate denied his request to have the impeachment motion paused until his recovery. This plea was, however, not granted with the Senate deciding to debate and vote on his impeachment a few hours after his admission in hospital.
“The 11 counts (presented in his impeachment motion) are nothing but malice and fiction. It was a political game by the president to get rid of me. Looking at it, I don’t think the President had any intention to work with me; I think he just needed me to help him win the election because of my mobilisation capacity and the faith the Mt Kenya region has in me. I believe I should have been given a fair opportunity to defend myself,” he said.
He wondered why the motion, which was not time-bound since it was not being discussed by a select committee which should have had 10 days then followed by a report to plenary, was hurried yet his case which was before plenary and therefore had no time limits.
The impeached Deputy President then likened the speed with which he was impeached to that of the life of folk hero, Simon Makonde, who was born on Monday and was buried by Sunday.
“The urgency with which Rigathi Gachagua is being removed from office is alarming. If this efficiency were applied to managing the country’s affairs, Kenyans would be much happier. The framers of the Constitution allowed 74 days for this process, yet it happened in just half a day. This rush appears to circumvent justice and prevent the courts from examining the matter,” he said.
He then recounted how he had initially gone to court but was directed that he should first wait for the parliamentary process of his impeachment to be completed lest the courts interfere with the process.
Now that the legislature had completed their end, the impeached DP said he is fully back in court and expressed his hope to get a fair determination.
“I urge the President to comply with court orders, as Rigathi Gachagua is still the Deputy President. Why am I denied access to official cars and security? Why has my office been rendered dysfunctional?” he posed.
He then said that efforts were made to prevent him from attending the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kwale and revealed that the management of Wilson Airport was instructed not to allow him to use the airport to fly to the venue for the national holiday.
He further said that helicopter owners were warned against providing him transport, a move that he said reeked of malice.
The impeached country’s second-in-command then loudly wondered what manner of mistake could a person make that could turn an erstwhile friend into a serious foe as fast as President Ruto turned on him.
The fact that all these things happened to him at a time when he was battling for his life did much to make him question his trust in the Head of State whom he said he helped clinch the highest office in the land.
“Nobody trusted him (President Ruto) when we were forming UDA (the ruling party). Everyone, that is Moses Wetang’ula (Ford-Kenya party leader), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), and even Amos Kingi (PAA) insisted that they should sign an MoU! I am the only one who did not sign because I trusted him,” he said.
Nevertheless, Mr Gachagua said he harbours no grudge with anybody and he has only one request to President Ruto. That he and his family be left alone.
“Do whatever you want but let me live. Let me look after my children. You can do whatever you want with the country but allow me to live because I was there for you when you needed somebody to be there for you. When you were in trouble and needed a man who would stand with you, I stood with you and my family,
“You have paid us in kind by being so cruel and vicious against us. We are simple people. We are a very small family. Let us be. Do whatever you want, but please, Mr President I beg you, don’t kill us, don’t kill my children. You have caused me enough pain for the last one year. Let me be, God will take care of me. I don’t have to have security, divers or cars, please allow me to have my peace if nothing else and remember I was there for you when you needed a man to be there for you,” he said.
Rule of law
He then called on Chief Justice Martha Koome to live true to the fidelity of Kenya’ constitution and make sure that Kenya is a country governed by the rule of law and “to allow the court process to take place and ensure that this process is not nugatory. There are orders asking that Rigathi Gachagua remain in office until this matter is heard and determined. Let it be,” he concluded before heading home in a privately-owned car without any sort of security or escort.
A testament to the changing tide for a man who barely days ago went to the Senate with a motorcade of state-funded vehicles and outriders clearing the road for him.
