Rigathi's bombshell: NIS has failed us
What you need to know:
- The DP lauded President Ruto's decision not to sign the contentious bill.
- Gachagua blames the NIS for the loss of lives and damage of property.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has laid blame on the spiral of the anti-Finance Bill protests on the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and its boss, Director-General Noordin Haji.
Mr Gachagua alleged that had the NIS boss effectively briefed President William Ruto on the magnitude of the protests, lives would not have been lost during the demonstrations that turned violent.
"We have a dysfunctional NIS that has exposed the President and the government of Kenya. This information was not available to President Ruto. Had he known that the people did not want Finance Bill, 2024 he would not have asked his people to push it through. Yet we have an organisation paid for by the public to give such information to the President. It is clear there is a failure in intelligence," he said.
He also lamented that as a result of a "dysfunctional NIS", lives were lost and property worth millions of shillings destroyed.
"Senior police officers have told me in private that they did not have an intelligence brief on the protests," he said.
He added: "Haji must do the honourable thing. He must resign from that office and allow the President to pick another (NIS) Director-General."
At the same time, Mr Gachagua called for dialogue to avoid recurrence of the anti-Finance Bill protests that rocked the country on Tuesday.
"We were elected the other day as a popular government. How did we get here? When did the rain start beating us? When did we stop listening to the people? President Ruto and I were the darling of the Kenyan people," he said.
He also lauded President Ruto's decision not to sign the contentious Bill.
