On Monday, October 21, the national headlines in Kenya widely reported on the secret behind the impeachment of DP Rigathi Gachagua. Shocking details behind the fallout with his President William Ruto were laid bare.
A Security Lapse
Back in August, when the President was on a tour of the Nyanza region, he was accompanied by his second-in-command. Gachagua spent the night at the Acacia Premier Hotel in Kisumu, which he had also visited in January.
On this night he held a lengthy meeting with an MP, who happens to be the closest confidant in the Rift Valley region. The conversation ran deep into the night and each of them retired to their suite.
Unbeknownst to him, the conversation was being recorded by someone and details were being sent out to his boss by the minute. As the Nation newspaper reported, the Intelligence Service had gained access to the room before his stay.
Breaking The News
After the Nyanza tour things were never the same between the two. The seeming deep betrayal from his former DP, who was plotting to pull away in a different direction, was never forgivable.
With the emergence of the alleged secret conversation, the relationship between the DP and Ruto was so severe that the following week, the helicopter carrying Gachagua was allegedly recalled to Nairobi moments after landing in Kirinyaga.
Some of his security detail is also said to have been recalled. The former DP became even more paranoid and his movements seemed to lessen, not knowing whom to trust. His wife Dorcas Gachagua, stood by him and he says she’s the only rock of support he had.
President Ruto is said to have played the recording at State House, according to a senior aide, at a meeting with religious leaders.
Another friend of Gachagua, among the leaders, from the Rift Valley, tried to make things right but he was not successful. Things were already too sour to sweeten.
Breaking The Ice
Gachagua, who spoke upon his discharge from Karen Hospital, claimed that National Intelligence Service agents had accessed his room in Kisumu on August 30.
Taifa Leo reported that while in Kisumu, during the Head of State visit, security officers tried to poison his food. He alleges that undercover agents bugged his room and one of them tried to poison his food.
Apparently, his security team detected the dragnet and they escaped the scheme. He says the second poisoning incident happened in Nyeri where suspected officers from the National Intelligence Service were involved.
Gachagua claims to have survived two assassination attempts before his impeachment.
Ruto Subliminal Message
His Mashujaa Day speech was seen as a subtle attack on his former deputy. The president spoke strongly against tribalism emphasizing that any attempt to disenfranchise any individual, group, or community was contrary to the spirit of the nation and would not be tolerated.
Ruto asked Kenyans to be as courageous as the first generation of freedom fighters, break free from the past, and not be held captive by fear of change.
