Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua accused President William Ruto of betrayal, adding that he had oppressed him since they ascended to the office in 2022.
In a press conference after his release from Karen Hospital, Gachagua lamented: “I trusted Ruto, who has since betrayed me.” Gachagua revealed that there were two assassination attempts against him prior to his impeachment.
“I don’t feel safe,” he said. On August 30, he said undercover police in Kisumu tried to poison his food. “We detected it and were able to escape,” he said.
He also mentioned a second attempt on September 3 in Nyeri: “NIS officers came and tried to poison food belonging to me and Kikuyu elders.” He reported the incidents to the National Intelligence Service and asked his officers to leave. “After attempts to assassinate me failed, this impeachment motion was hatched,” he added.
He contrasted this with the loyalty of other Kenya Kwanza leaders. “Unlike Mudavadi, Wetangula, Mutua, and Kingi, I did not ask for a pre-election agreement,” he said. Gachagua said he trusted Ruto to the bone. “The people of Mt. Kenya trusted him. I am the only man who trusted him verbally,” he said.
Gachagua described the past year as a storm. “It has been very difficult,” he said. He stated that he is being persecuted and harassed. “What happened on Thursday was a culmination of continuous persecution,” he explained.
At the hospital, he said that people close to the president called to ask about his well-being. “Many of his people were calling, asking whether I am dead,” he said.
He likened it to the persecution of Kenneth Matiba by the then President Moi. “President Ruto wanted to take me the route President Moi took Matiba,” he said.
Gachagua insists that he is being persecuted for speaking truth to power, citing his opposition to a presidential order to evict people from riparian land and his stance against leasing JKIA to an Indian firm.
