Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addresses congregants at Kangari AIPCA Church in Murang’a on November 24, 2024.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his loyalists now want US President-elect Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Kenyan leaders who committed the country to controversial Adani deals.
Mr Gachagua said President William Ruto who on Thursday ordered the cancellation of Kenyan deals with Adani Group, needed more checks to ensure he remains true in that severance.
"My worry and that of many Kenyans is that the deals might be sneaked back, packaged in other agreements and names. We should be helped to remain freed completely from all deals that sink our resources, and benefit few individuals," he said.
Mr Trump will assume office on January 20, 2025, after winning the elections held this month.
Speaking at AIPCA Kangari Church in Murang'a County on Sunday, Mr Gachagua and his allies implored Mr Trump not to fall into the trap of the President by declaring that he has cancelled the deals. Embakasi North MP James Gakuya threw the first salvo.
"These Adani deals are only a fraction of our procurement mess...We need Mr Trump to appoint an envoy here who loathes corruption and manipulation of national financial opportunities. The list of sanctioned Kenyan leaders should be reviewed," he said.
Mr Gachagua thanked the US "for prompting Kenya to see the light."
"President Ruto did not cancel the Adani deals because it was from his heart. It was because the Adani operations have been flagged in the US. Given a choice, he would not have cancelled them," Mr Gachagua said.
During his second State of the Nation address since he took over power in 2022, President Ruto announced the immediate cancellation of a 30-year $736m public-private partnership contracting Adani Group to construct power transmission lines in partnership with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu said President Ruto’s rule should be monitored by global actors, to save Kenya from becoming part and parcel of global racketeers.
Under another separate deal worth nearly $2bn, the Adani Group was to add a second runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease.
Adani deals
The previous day preceding Ruto's cancellation of the deals, authorities in the US had inducted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and seven others over an estimated $265m bribery racket to win tenders from the Indian government.
So far, the Adani Group has denied the allegations and said in a statement that it would seek "all possible legal recourse".
On Saturday, the National Treasury CS John Mbadi defended the President and the country in the Adani mess saying "none from the government is at fault in the deals since there were no full disclosures from Adani to help us determine integrity queries now emerging".
On Thursday, Nyeri Senator Mr Wahome Wamatinga had defended the President saying the cancellation of the deals was a testament that the Head of State was committed to act decisively on all credibly flagged cases of corruption and other forms of improprieties.
Mr Gachagua who has taken a position in the opposition terraces since his impeachment said: "The President was not short of advice...but he ignored it against committing the country to the shady deals".
He wondered why legislators clapped for the President when he announced the cancellation of Adani deals. He chided: "It was not from his heart hence no need to clap for him. I had on several occasions advised him not to commit the country to the Adani corruption network as widely reported worldwide".
Mr Gachagua said instead of the President taking note, he accused him of being opposed to government projects.
"I rejected Adani because it was tantamount to auctioning the country to corruption. Instead, they (the President and his advisors) accused me of opposing government projects," he said.
He said the President, by using an intimidated Cabinet and a captured Parliament, reported to him that "it was not necessary to do what was popular but what was right...I tried to save him this shame but he refused," Mr Gachagua said.
In cancelling the deals, President Ruto cited new evidence that had emerged linking the Indian conglomerate to corruption.
As such, the head of state directed the ministries of Transport and Petroleum to forthwith cancel all signed and impending deals with the company.
Accountability
“Accordingly, I now direct, in furtherance of principles enshrined in Article 10 of the constitution on transparency and accountability and based on new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations, that the procuring agencies in the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, immediately cancel the ongoing procurement processes," he said.
Mr Gachagua revealed that Cabinet Secretaries who were opposed to the Adani deals were intimidated to toe the line.
"I was the only one at the Cabinet who could face the President and tell him the truth… the President hated me," he said.
Mr Gachagua added that his impeachment was mostly founded on his unwillingness to support over-taxation, demolitions of human habitation, shady deals and security excesses that have resulted in extrajudicial killings, abductions, enforced disappearances and persecutions.
He alleged that President Ruto is currently living in denial and behaving erratically.
"Instead of seeking the truth of what is the agitation against him among Kenyans, he is being misled by sycophants who are telling him the country, especially here in the mountain, is being incited to be hostile against him," he said.
He added that "it is only the truth that shall set the President free. The political movement coming to counter him ahead of 2027 will make 2002 look like a joke".
Leaders present in Gachagua's entourage included Senators Joe Nyutu, Karungo Thang'wa (Kiambu), James Murango (Kirinyaga) and Nyandarua's John Methu, Kigumo MP who was the host, Mr Joseph Munyoro, Embakasi North MP Mr James Gakuya, Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru and Gatanga MP Edward Muriu.
Mr Nyutu said President Ruto's rule should be monitored by global actors to save Kenya from becoming part and parcel of global racketeers.
