Sometime in July, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua refused to have meals and drinks prepared by state-assigned staff at his official residence in Karen.
Instead, Mr Gachagua would eat food prepared at his private home in Karen by his wife, Dorcas. The meals would be delivered to his official residence, which is nearby.
At the time, talk of his looming impeachment was in public domain but was downplayed by government insiders. Although this apparent scheme had raised his alertness as he felt he had powerful enemies within the government, a security breach would increase his paranoia.
To restore his confidence in meals prepared at the official residence, Mr Gachagua had to reshuffle his kitchen staff. He brought in a chef who had worked for him at his private home in Karen. From then on, he was the only person supposed to prepare meals for the Deputy President.
An officer who was in charge of supervising the operations in the DP’s kitchen was also transferred in the sudden changes. The role of preparing food for the DP and his family was effectively left to this private employee. He would make meals – lunch or dinner – and then leave. At first, the workers at the official residence were shocked at the sudden turn of events.
Mr Gachagua, who prior to these sudden changes was easygoing, now paid more attention to the management of his security. He became keen on the security detail deployed to guard him at his official and private homes in Karen and Mathira.
Those close to the DP say from that time, his staff at home and office saw a different Gachagua from the one they were accustomed to. According to multiple sources close to the Deputy President, a security breach that appeared isolated became a subject of intense scrutiny by his aides.
The source said Mr Gachagua had been advised to be more careful after it emerged that some of the state-assigned staff were leaking confidential details and documents about his office operations.
Sometime that July, one of the senior staff close to Mr Gachagua had posted some confidential documents in a WhatsApp group created to raise funds for a burial preparation. According to the source, at the time, the DP was planning to travel abroad and had obtained clearance.
Then out of the blue, all details, including the travel documents of the DP and his security, were posted on the burial group after which they were deleted. Some of the people close to the DP advised him to bring in a trusted person.
“We don’t know if it was by accident or by design. This incident shocked us,” said the ex-staff.
But even after these incidents that appeared to have made the DP raise his antenna, it’s shocking that Mr Gachagua and his aides would be caught unawares on the night of August 30 when people believed to be National Intelligence Service (NIS) operatives reportedly accessed his hotel room in Kisumu and bugged it to monitor his conversations.
In one of the press briefings held by the DP before his impeachment this month, Mr Gachagua said three staff who were close to him had been transferred but did not reveal the reason for that.
On Sunday, Mr Gachagua, who spoke upon leaving Karen Hospital where he was admitted after falling ill prior to his testimony before the Senate, which subsequently upheld his impeachment on October 17, alleged attempts to poison him. He claimed there were two plots to assassinate him in Kisumu and Nyeri.
“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,” he alleged.
Mr Gachagua went on to reveal that while he was undergoing treatment at Karen Hospital, his security had been withdrawn, which meant his homes in Karen and Nyeri were no longer on state security watch.
Mr Gachagua, who claimed his life was in danger, said he had reported the incidents to NIS for investigations. Multiple sources familiar with events around Mr Gachagua told the Daily Nation that from July, he changed his routine and became more cautious.
“He was now keen on what he ate and wanted a person close to him to supervise the preparation of his food,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He was not paranoid but careful.”
The Daily Nation, through speaking to multiple sources, pieced together details of how Mr Gachagua’s room at Acacia Premier Hotel in Kisumu was bugged on August 30 by state agents, who secretly recorded a conversation between the DP and an MP from the Rift Valley. This MP was considered his ally and had identified himself as his defender in the region. The second-term lawmaker had defended the DP when his looming impeachment was an issue of debate in the Rift Valley region in July.
The same MP had in the past election campaigned against Dr Ruto and was lucky to have won the parliamentary seat, beating the candidate supported by the President.
He would spend hours with Mr Gachagua at his presidential suite in the hotel. They had a lengthy conversation that they thought was in private, but as it would later turn out, someone else was listening in.
A day before Mr Gachagua arrived at the hotel, an advance team of security and protocol officers had secured the hotel room.
The team, which usually travels ahead of the President and his deputy, had made all arrangements, including a security assessment of the hotel where the VIP would spend the night.
The presidential suite was reserved for Mr Gachagua, while other VIPs and security aides were issued with rooms above and below the presidential suite. This arrangement was meant to ensure the DP was well guarded from all corners.
Hours before Mr Gachagua checked into the room, a trusted security aide is said to have done a routine check. This aide demanded an explanation from the leader of the advance team on whether the room had been thoroughly checked before the arrival of the VIP. He was informed that all security procedures, including debugging, had been conducted.
On this night, Mr Gachagua and his confidant spent hours in a conversation before the MP, who was also spending the night at the same hotel, retired to his room for the night, according to informed sources.
What Mr Gachagua did not know was that some people away from this room were getting minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow updates on their deliberations. This recorded conversation is now at the centre of the falling-out between the DP and his boss.
