Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua with wife Pastor Dorcas Rigathi during a church service in Kiamariga, Nyeri County on July 7, 2024.
Most of the companies singled out in an impeachment motion as forming a web of at least 19 organisations in Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s empire, including two foundations, were registered between 2001 and January this year, official records show.
Documents indicate that the firms indicate their offices in Nairobi as State House Road, Lang’ata, the city centre and the official residence of the Deputy President in Karen.
These companies will form the biggest body of evidence in the ongoing impeachment proceedings to bring down the deputy president, who fashions himself as a ‘truthful man’ but appears to have stuck his head in a raging fire when he publicly admitted that his family owned some of the properties in question.
A Nation.Africa investigation seeking to lift the corporate veil and verify contents of what the impeachment motion terms as the Gachagua empire, and which included independent searches at the registrar of companies, has found that three of the 22 companies linked to the deputy president did not have records in the official custodian’s vault.
But the central character of the 19 companies is Mr Gachagua who has lurched from one crisis to another alongside his wife Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi and his two sons, Kevin Gachagua and Keith Ikinu.
One issue likely to be raised during the impeachment proceedings it is legal for a public official to register private companies using the official residence as the address.
The searches reveal that two of the companies and a foundation are operating from the official deputy president’s residence and the third company is registered as doing its business from Harambee House Annex, which is the office of the deputy president.
According to official documents from the registrar of companies, the deputy president is a director at Grand Bypass Apartments Limited, which is owned by Vipingo Beach Resort Limited. The other directors at Grand Bypass Apartments are John Mwai Mathenge and Peter Njoroge Regeru.
The company was registered on January 11, this year.
The records also show that the spouse of the deputy president, Ms Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi fully owns Spirit Way Ltd, which was registered on November 14, 2023, a year after the 2022 General Election.
Mrs Rigathi owns all the 100 issued shares of the company that is now at the centre of the impeachment proceedings. Its registered office is in the Fortis Suites building located on Hospital Road in Nairobi’s Upper Hill estate.
Fortis Vis Group Limited is owned by Mr Gachagua’s sons, Kevin and Keith, who each have 50 shares in the company that was registered in on February 14, 2023.
It is one of the companies that are operating from the official residence of the deputy president according to the records from the registrar of companies.
The two are also the directors of Vipingo Beach Resort Limited, which is fully owned by the estate of the deceased James Nderitu Gachagua. Vipingo Beach Resort, which was registered in April 2023, also owns Kuruwitu Properties, forming another layer in the web of the Gachagua family empire.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (second left), his spouse Pastor Dorcas Rigathi (second right) and other faithful pray during a church service in Nairobi.
Gachagua, together with his wife Dorcas, registered another company Biovet (K) Limited in June 2009.
The company’s physical address is on plot 209/3863 on Liaison House Building in Nairobi’s State House Avenue. The two own 200 shares each in Biovet, which is also at the centre of the deputy president’s impeachment proceedings.
Mrs Rigathi, who is also a pastor, owns the bulk of the shares in Calvary Creed International Limited. The records show that she owns 950 shares with the remaining 50 owned by the deputy president in the company that was incorporated in April 2015.
The deputy president and his spouse are also the owners of Heartland Supplies Limited, where they each have an equal stake of 200 shares each. The company was incorporated in June 2009.
The pair also owns Karandi Farm Limited with Rigathi having 700 shares while Dorcas controlling the remaining 300 shares in the company.
His two sons Kevin and Keith are also shareholders in another entity known as Cosmere Ventures, alongside four others– Herman Thuita Maina, James Mwangi Kathogo, Irene Nyanjau Wachira and David Kipkemboi Muthamia. They each own between 50 and 250 shares in the entity that was registered on February 26, 2018.
The Rigathi sons also own 200 shares each in Crystal Kenya Limited, which was registered on June 12, 2009. The company took a loan of Sh300 million on November 14, 2023 that was charged on its assets.
The impeachment motion has accused the deputy president of using his sons as proxies in the company which bought Outspan Hotel, situated at Nyeri Municipality Block /1/1699 from Aberdare Safari Hotels for Sh535 million.
Mr Gachagua will be tasked with explaining how his sons got the remaining Sh235 million to buy the property that he publicly admitted they now owned.
The petition also claims that his sons bought another hotel last year.
“In November 2023, Kevin Gachagua and Keith Ikinu, the proxies of His Excellency Rigathi Gachagua acquired Treetops Lodge situated in Nyeri County. Sometimes, in August 2024, His Excellency Rigathi Gachagua publicly admitted that his family had acquired this property,” the petition before parliament reads in part.
Gachagua and his wife also independently own a foundation each. Mr Gachagua registered the Rigathi Gachagua Foundation on November 11, 2022, while his wife, registered the Dorcas Rigathi Foundation just a month later on October 19, 2022.
The other entities linked to the Gachagua empire include Morani Manufacturers Limited, Mothers of the Land Limited, Ridor Furniture Mart Limited, Royal Crimson Ventures, Technical Supplies and Services (K) Limited and Wamunyoro Investments Limited.
The impeachment motion claims that the deputy president and some unnamed proxies also acquired Olive Gardens Hotel on Argwings Kodhek Road and Queens Gate Serviced Apartments as well as Vipingo Beach Resort in Kilifi County.
The Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi during an interview at her residence in Karen, Nairobi on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
It has also linked him to Riara One Apartments on Riara Road and Lang’ata View Apartments on the Southern Bypass.
That is not all. The petition has further linked Mr Gachagua to several parcels of land among them Ruguru/Kiamariga/1223 in Mathira East Constituency, where he has supposedly constructed a helicopter landing facility.
He will also be required to defend how he acquired 40 acres of land in Kakuret in Kamburaini in Nyeri County and another 80 acres in Meru County. The petition also wants Mr Gachagua to explain how he acquired a dairy farm in Nyandarua County.
Additionally, Mr Gachagua is accused of using his office of Deputy President to exert influence and connive with unscrupulous Ministry of Land officials “to issue an allotment letter to Wamunyoro Investments Limited, a company that he owns, to acquire L.R. 209/12077 and LR 90923, situated at Embakasi in Nairobi.”
The petition further reads, in part. “After that, this company used the fraudulently acquired documents to support a court case at the expense of the legitimate owner of the property.”
Mr Gachagua will also be tasked to explain his involvement in the Sh3.7 billion malaria nets procurement scandal. This is after the petition claimed that companies associated with the deputy president and some unnamed proxies were involved in the 2023 Sh3.7 billion irregular procurement of Malaria nets, which put the lives of millions of Kenyans at risk.
The Deputy President is on Tuesday October 8 expected to defend himself against the allegations tabled in Parliament.
