Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has, for the first time, publicly addressed recent troubling developments surrounding his office and style of politics.
Among others, Gachagua downplayed the impeachment claims allegedly being pushed by a section of his political nemesis.
Speaking on Sunday during an interview with Agikuyu vernacular media stations, Gachagua confirmed that he had heard of the impeachment claims but said he was not worried about them.
“If speaking for my people will be the reason for my impeachment, I am ready to go home.
I am still young,” he said.
He said the entry of ODM leader Raila Odinga and his troops into the Kenya Kwanza government has also been linked to the impeachment claims.
“I hear they wanted to impeach me but they did not have the numbers to do so.
Now I hear that they are saying with Raila and his people in government they have the numbers to oust me if they unite,” Gachagua said.
According to the brief he received from President William Ruto, Gachagua says the ODM leader and his troops were brought on board to help stabilise the country, not to impeach him.
“Ruto did not tell me Raila was coming with his people to get rid of me, he said they were coming to help and I believed him.
So I am not taking the impeachment issues seriously,” he said.
On claims that the impeachment is being spearheaded by MPs from the Mt Kenya region, Gachagua described the narrative as shocking.
He said it would surprise him why the group of leaders would orchestrate his ouster from office yet he has been on the frontline in agitating for the needs of the Mt Kenya region.
“My thinking is one, if it is our Mt Kenya people who are the ones after that motion, I would be so shocked because I don’t know why they would have a problem.
I am speaking for Mt Kenya people,” he said.
“Two, if there’s that motion, they should collect the signatures where they were elected first.
They should go back there because it is not the MPs who voted for me but it is Kenyans, especially the Mt Kenya people who supported me and Ruto overwhelmingly.
It’s not MPs who elected me.
It’s Kenyans.
They should get the signatures from Kenyans, not MPs.”
The remarks by Gachagua come hot on the heels of reports of night meetings and behind-the-scene schemes to oust the country’s second in command.
The unfolding situation has raised serious concerns about the relationship between the Deputy President’s office and security agencies, highlighting a potentially significant rift within the government’s ranks.
Gachagua also talked on what he termed as unwarranted disrespect from security agencies, including the targeting of his close allies, the grilling of his staff members, and a shooting incident involving one of his staff.
Gachagua revealed that a former senior National Intelligence Service (NIS) official in charge of Nairobi identified as Gikonyo, whom he had recruited to assist in the fight against alcohol and drug abuse, was shot.
He claimed the officer, transferred from the NIS was assigned to investigate illicit alcohol and drug abuse, a task given by the president.
“I found one of the officers who was very senior in charge of Nairobi, and I brought him to my office to investigate the issue of illicit alcohol and drug abuse.”
“To try and intimidate me, that officer was trailed by a person in a boda boda while leaving his house in Kileleshwa and shot.
By the grace of God, the bullet missed his head and hit him on the shoulder.
He was taken to Nairobi Hospital, and the bullet was removed.”
He expressed disappointment that this incident had not been adequately addressed.
“The President did not know this information and I had to tell him.
When the security bosses were asked, they started stuttering.
To this day, that assassin who was sent to intimidate me and my staff has never been investigated, and the matter went silent,” he stated.
Gachagua did not disclose the specific dates or period when the incident occurred.
Gachagua described the harassment as unprecedented, even compared to the previous administration, where former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s lieutenants allegedly undermined then-Deputy President William Ruto’s office.
He criticised security bosses for failing to adequately gather information about recent protests, leading them to rely on dubious narratives such as foreign interference and his supposed involvement.
“The Gen Z protests were sparked by the collective anger of all Kenyans because they felt their leaders were not listening, coupled with the chest-thumping of ministers and other officials,”Gachagua noted.
“When the officers came here, they asked my staff only two questions about whether they funded the Gen Z protests and who they had been in communication with.
They asked about three questions and then left.
This occurred without media knowledge, but they were the ones who leaked information to the media to tarnish my image.”
Gachagua also revealed that he confronted Ruto about the recent actions of the security agencies, reminding him of their promise not to use these agencies to target and intimidate politicians.
He recounted an incident on Sunday involving Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru, also known as Mejjadonk, who was intercepted by ten police vehicles in Kenol, and his phone was confiscated.
Additionally, Embakasi North MP James Gakuya’s phone was also taken by police for analysis.
They are under probe over claims of sponsoring goons to infiltrate anti-government protests and loot property.
The MPs have denied the accusations. Gachagua’s three aides were too grilled over the claims.
He expressed concern over the surveillance he and his associates are reportedly under.
“Many people I am in communication with are being tracked, and many of my phone calls are being recorded,” he lamented.
“Every person who calls me is recorded, yet I am the Deputy President of Kenya. Every person who comes close to me is being asked what they had come to discuss.”
Gachagua warned security bosses against employing tactics reminiscent of the previous government.
“I told the President, when we sat down with the two security bosses, that we should not spill the blood of Kenyans.
I warned of the problems we would face if we allowed them to shed innocent blood,” he said.
He reiterated his opposition to abductions and extrajudicial killings, stating, “In Kasarani, I said that such actions should not be acceptable in our government.”
He said he hopes the security chiefs would heed the President’s call to cease harassment.
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