Nairobi, Kenya | By Michael Wandati | Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto of mistreating him and going back on an agreement they made prior to taking office in 2022.
Speaking at a press conference shortly after being discharged from Karen Hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment following an illness last week, Gachagua expressed his disappointment in the President. He stated that he had placed his trust in Ruto, only to feel betrayed in the end.
Gachagua also claimed that, before his impeachment was brought to Parliament, there had been two assassination attempts on his life.
“I don’t feel safe. On August 30th undercover cover police agents in Kisumu entered my room and one of them tried to poison my food but we detected it and we were able to escape. I was supposed to be killed through poisoning,” Gachagua said.
“On September 3rd in Nyeri, NIS officers came to Nyeri and tried to poison food belonging to me and Kikuyu elders. I reported the matter to NIS and asked the officers assigned to my office to leave. After attempts to assassinate me failed, this impeachment motion was hatched,” Gachagua added.
Rigathi Gachagua has stated that, unlike other key figures in the Kenya Kwanza coalition—such as Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetangula, Alfred Mutua, and Amason Kingi—he did not request a pre-election agreement with President William Ruto.
Gachagua emphasized that he placed his trust in Ruto without seeking any formal deal before the 2022 elections, distinguishing his position from other coalition leaders.
“I trusted President William Ruto, the people of Mt.Kenya region trusted him. As we were preparing to go to office, nobody else trusted him. I am the only man who trusted him verbally because we are Christians, we used to go to church together. I believed my fellow Christian, that he would never betray me or my people,” said the impeached DP.
According to Gachagua, the man he trusted has taken him through a storm in the past one year.
“For the last one year, it has been very difficult. But I am a very persevering man, very enduring. What happened on Thursday was a culmination of continuous persecution and stress for a year.”
Rigathi Gachagua has alleged that, since his hospitalization at Karen Hospital on Thursday, certain individuals close to President William Ruto have been inquiring about his health. He claimed these unnamed persons were making calls to check whether his condition was worsening, raising suspicions about their motives.
“I hear many of his people were calling here (hospital) asking whether I am dead, whether I survived, whether I will recover, they were celebrating,” Gachagua told the press on Sunday.
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He likened the ‘persecution’ by his former boss to that meted upon Kenneth Matiba during the late President Daniel Moi’s regime.
“When I look at it, probably it is history repeating itself. President William Ruto wanted to take me the route President Moi took Matiba. He pushed Matiba to getting a stroke and dying. When I look at what the president is doing to me, especially now when I am in hospital, crippling me, treating me like an animal… I think he wanted to take me the Matiba route,” he said.
Rigathi Gachagua has stated that he is being targeted for speaking out against controversial government actions. He cited his opposition to the presidential directive to evict people from riparian land in Nairobi, as well as his resistance to the leasing of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the Indian-owned Adani Company.
Gachagua argued that these stances have led to his political persecution.
