Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and then Deputy President William Ruto (left), impeached DP Rigathi Gachagua and President Ruto.
In a world of bad political manners, betrayal of a friend or foe is the currency and road map for self-gain, self-interest and self-preservation, at least to a pliant support base.
Weaponising security agencies against those with divergent views or political affiliations has become a common occurrence in Kenya post-colonial.
Suffice to say that most of Kenya's post-colonial politicians are cut from the same cloth since 1963, and it is no wonder that while time has stood still, history repeats itself as a farce and tragedy rolled into one.
It is this political intolerance that political and legal minds, rolled into one, want the government to deal with, noting that it threatens to slide the country to the precipice, notwithstanding that it is just 18 months to a general election.
President William Ruto chats with his deputy Rigathi Gachagua during the commissioning of Changachicha Irrigation project in Nyeri County on February 15, 2024.
During his 2022 presidential election campaigns, President William Ruto, then deputy president, repeatedly pledged that if he became president, his deputy would never face the same treatment he was experiencing under his then-boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He made the pledges in various interviews, both on local and international Radio and TV channels and in political rallies.
This, as he accused the then administration of using State agencies to “humiliate” and “punish” him in reference to the sidelining he was subjected to during his second term as deputy president.
He repeatedly said that his administration would never “weaponise” state institutions or security agencies to frustrate his deputy or political opponents.
This promise was the cornerstone of his campaign’s “sympathy” chronicle, which highlighted the frosty relations between him and his then-boss, specifically after the 2018 “handshake” with then ODM leader, the late Raila Odinga.
Despite these declarations, after his August 9, 2022, election victory, President Ruto’s relationship with his first deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, started deteriorating barely a year in office.
When the centre could no longer hold, Mr Gachagua was impeached in October 2024, in what the former DP and his allies cited as a betrayal of the earlier promises.
President William Ruto (left) and his ex-deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
DP party leader Justin Muturi, the immediate former Attorney-General and Public Service Cabinet Secretary in President Ruto’s administration, notes that the president is an impeachable material “because he can never keep his word, has no honour, and that’s why he’s excited about dictatorships.”
“The president is an existential threat to his own nation given his own admission publicly that he admires dictatorship,” Mr Muturi, the immediate former Speaker of the National Assembly, says, adding, “this is ground enough for his impeachment.”
“The president swore to defend and protect the constitution. We are in a constitutional democracy. Why would he cherish dictatorship? Kenyans should be alert that the president is a danger to constitutionalism,” Mr Muturi.
As if Gachagua’s impeachment, which President Ruto’s close allies have said was done to teach him a lesson and also finish him politically, was not enough, Mr Gachagua continues to be targeted by security agencies.
Mr Gachagua’s main undoing is that he shoots from the hip, calling the malfeasance in government in black and white and daring President Ruto that he will be a one-term president.
In his recent letter to the police, Mr Gachagua says that since his impeachment on October 18, 2024, he has been attacked not less than 24 times, during which instances, people have died or been injured, and property has been damaged.
The recent Witima ACK Church incident in Nyeri saw individuals suspected to be under the police protection disrupt the Church service as they descended on congregants, including Mr Gachagu, with live ammunition, teargas and crude weapons.
Residents scamper for safety after tear gas canisters were lobbed at Witima ACK Church in Nyeri County during a Sunday service that was attended by Rigathi Gachagua (right) on January 25, 2026.
During the incident, people sustained injuries at a time they were supposed to be meditating with their maker, and cars were damaged in an incident that saw car tyres deliberately deflated by individuals using AK-47 and G3 guns.
“The incident at Witima Church in which armed individuals in police uniform fired tear gas and live bullets was heart-wrenching. This is unacceptable behaviour in a functioning democratic country, and the police should take responsibility,” said Mr Muturi.
While many came out to sympathise with Mr Gachagua over the Witima attack, the leader of majority in the National Assembly, Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu), had no compassion for the former DP.
He accused him of being “a criminal with ‘goonish’ tendencies masquerading as a victim.”
“The police only intervene in instances where there is a breach of the peace. He walks around with goons to cause mayhem and violence, to provoke the police, then cry foul,” said Mr Ichung’wah.
“If he doesn’t walk around with goons, there will be no violence,” he said in reference to the “other opposition leaders, who don’t walk around with goons, and there has been no violence.”
He specifically noted that Wiper Patriotic Front party leader Kalonzo Musyoka doesn’t carry goons with him. “Have we seen disruption of peace, violence and mayhem around Kalonzo? No.”
In June 2022, President Ruto wrote to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) claiming that the agency was being used to undermine his bid.
This came after the Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho claimed that he had intelligence that Ruto’s main rival, the late Raila Odinga, was ahead in local ratings and would therefore easily win the 2022 presidential contest.
“Unless the Board or the Office of the Director-General of NIS provides a reasoned and acceptable finding or explanation to the complaint herein within 14 days of this letter, the Complainant shall pursue further legal action,” Ruto’s letter read.
Mr Barasa Nyukuri, a governance expert, says that anyone who expected President Ruto to behave differently from his predecessors “should see a doctor.”
“President Ruto's conduct before and after getting power has been consistent for its lack of moral, ethical and ideological conviction,” says Mr Nyukuri.
He adds that “most of our politicians germinated from the same poisoned tree.”
“They were schooled by the same failed teacher. You don't expect any better offspring,” Nyukuri says.
Senior Counsel Charles Kanjama.
Senior Counsel Charles Kanjama notes that it is unfortunate that state agencies and state-linked players are acting deliberately to shrink the democratic space and undermine our constitutional values and fundamental freedoms.
“The recrudescence of the tactics of old of harassing political opponents and silencing political freedoms must stop, not tomorrow but today,” said SC Kanjama.
This is as he challenged the civil society organisations and other non-State actors to ensure “they work with Kenyans to demand both individual and collective accountability from the responsible individuals and organs.”
United States International University (USIU) lecturer Prof Macharia Munene observes that President Ruto “has done more to fix Gachagua than Uhuru ever did or thought of doing to Ruto.”
“This appears to be unprecedented enjoyment of the state inflicting violence on people than ever before,” says Prof Macharia.
According to University of Nairobi lecturer Mr Herman Manyora, politicians “have no problem eating their own words, and so it should not be surprising that President Ruto would go against his own words and be seen to be persecuting his former deputy.”
“The president had promised never to allow his deputy to go through what Uhuru subjected him to. Now he's not only doing that, but he's even more direct and more vicious than his predecessor,” says Mr Manyora.
People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua speaking at Ambassador Church at Ciagiini village in Kirinyaga
The People's Liberation Party (PLP) leader, Martha Karua, demanded that President Ruto respect the opposition and guarantee free political engagement without police intimidation.
“President Ruto once spoke strongly against police harassment when he was the deputy president. Unfortunately, he is doing exactly what he condemned back then,” says Ms Karua.
According to the PLP party leader, “it is unfortunate that president Ruto is going back on his word,” recalling that he had previously decried police harassment during his tenure as Deputy President.
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