Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua revealed it all in an interview where he accused President William Ruto of being conniving and orchestrating his ouster from office. He talks about corruption within the government and how the president is at the heart of the biggest corruption deals done at the State House.
The interview was done against the backdrop of claims made by the president that the former DP was incompetent, tribal and a divisive figure within the cabinet. The president also sensationally claimed that Gachagua demanded KES10B to resign from his position.
On Soliciting For KES 10Billion From President William Ruto
To the very ridiculous claims made by president William Ruto in Sagana State Lodge next to my house. To be clear, I was under a lot of pressure from supporters and people who listened to him to respond immediately. I, however, just tweeted that pathological lying is a mental disorder. It is very sad that I have to spend time to respond to this very ridiculous accusations by the president.
The president went to the mountain for a political tour. It’s not a development tour the way you call it because there’s nothing he did. And if you go through wherever he went he was just having rallies. Launching, re launching projects that he had launched before. Saying he’s inspecting projects, he’s not an engineer, he’s not a quality surveyor, he’s not an architect.
He went around making all manner of promises that he has made since he was elected as president. Let me spend a few minutes to respond to some of the things that he said in Sagana. Again he had come to the mountain after almost six months of a lot of disquiet and he needed to do some explanation. So he summoned all the vernacular stations to attempt to pacify the region that he had betrayed. And to give a justification as to why he had betrayed the people of the mountain.
These are people who had trusted him. These are people who supported him without an MOU. These are people who supported his presidency without a political party. These are people who believed in him in all the things that he promised them.
He betrayed them. He turned against them. He misused them. And he felt of course his advisers told him that he needed to set the tone. And explain why.
He hounded me out of office. Despite having promised the people of Kenya that he will never humiliate his deputy; that he will never persecute his deputy.
He even went beyond humiliation and persecution. He hounded me out of office and he was asked a question as whether he is the one who impeached me and he looked down because he couldn’t look at the cameras and say ‘no I’m not the one it is MPs who did it.’
Everybody knows it’s the worst kept secret in this country. Everybody knows that he is the one who crafted the impeachment. And bribed members of parliament KES 500,000 each; and senators at KES 10,000,000. He bribed the mover of the motion. The Kibwezi West MP has been everywhere complaining he was shortchanged. He had been promised to be the chairman of the budget and appropriation committee after successfully tabulating the motion.
It is common knowledge that those Mount Kenya MPs cannot overrule the president. They do whatever he wants. You remember when he told them to pass the finance bill? They went and passed the finance bill despite the fact that there was public outcry. And the members of public had serious problems with them.
The day he changed his mind because of the Gen Z protest and said we are doing away with the finance bill, they were there clapping for him. They never argue with him. You remember again the Adani saga. They were defending the Adani saga. And the MPs were supporting him that Adani is a good thing; the day he changed his mind and said we are stopping Adani, he same MPs were clapping for him. So it is very hypocritical and dishonest for President William Ruto to claim that MPs disobeyed him.
Rigathi Gachagua On Bullying Members Of Parliament And Telling Them To Kneel To Him
That is also another lie. I would like you to produce a clip where I told members of parliament to kneel before me. They cannot kneel before me. I’m not God. What I told the members of parliament and is true today as it was then was to listen to the ground and stop following President William Ruto blindly against the wishes of the people.
On Picking Small Fights With People Close To The President
They are not small fights. It’s a president who is calling them small fights. Advising members of parliament to listen to the ground is not a small fight. It’s a very honorable duty for a leader of my caliber. I listen to the people. The people did not want the finance bill 2024. And I told the members of parliament, ‘people do not want the finance bill.’ ‘Don’t follow the president blindly.’
And ‘if you people don’t adjust by this December and start listening to the people, the people of the Mount Kenya region make decisions the second year of election.’ And I was telling them from my experience by the end of this year in December, if you guys have not aligned yourself with the people and listened to the people.
The people are crying about over taxation. The people are saying they don’t want the affordable housing. The people are saying they don’t want you to tax avocado. The people are saying that there is too much government in people’s lives and you people are following William Ruto blindly. I’m advising you people as your leader. From world one inch you are telling me if you don’t adjust and listen to the people you will find yourself in trouble coming.
On Picking Fights With The President’s PA – Farouk Kibet
I’ll explain. Let me first deal with the 10 billion. President William Ruto is a master of deceit. And he’s very good at driving narratives to suit what he wants. Between the year 2018 and 2022, he drove a narrative in the Mount Kenya region that Uhuru Kenyatta is incompetent, he’s a drunkard, and he has ruined the economy and the country. He persuaded many people, I included. Because he is very persuasive when he gets on a narrative.
And he drove a narrative against Uhuru Kenyatta and recruited all of us, I included. I was among the leaders of those who believed in what he told us – that Uhuru Kenyatta is a drunkard. Is a useless leader. Is a man who has messed this country, is a man who cannot be trusted to organize the succession and, we should despise him, we should hate him and we should listen to William Ruto.
Five years down the line Uhuru Kenyatta is gone and William Ruto the one who said who is incompetent has come on stage. The education system that was working when Uhuru Kenyatta was there is finished. Children are at home, the health system has trouble, people are overtaxed.
Nothing is working in the country. Yet, at that time, he had persuaded us that Uhuru Kenyatta is an incompetent man and is a drunkard, and not is not a leader worth talking about.
He came and persuaded us that our enemy as a region is Raila Odinga who is a witch doctor. And since Uhuru Kenyatta has brought him, Uhuru Kenyatta does not mean well for us. We should hate Uhuru Kenyatta and trust William Ruto to carry our destiny. We believed him.
He’s very good in driving narratives. So when he came to the mountain, he needed to drive a narrative thinking that the people are as gullible as they were then. And he was confident that if he could successfully drive a narrative against Uhuru Kenyatta when he was president he could equally drive a narrative against Rigathi Gachagua. And he coined this narrative of KES 10B.
The purpose was to show the people on the Mount Kenya region that this Gachagua guy is a very selfish man.
Of course I did not blackmail the president because if I did it would have been accusation number one before the senate impeachment. This impeachment was crafted by William Ruto. It was drafted by the national intelligence service and Professor Kindiki. Blackmail is a criminal offence. It should have been accusation number one – It did not appear anywhere.
Since October 18, the president has never talked about it. Until he came to the mountain. And the president had better make up his mind why he ousted me out of office. When he went to Western Kenya, he said he got rid of me because I was incompetent and tribal, he never told the people of Western Kenya about me asking for KES 10B. When he went to North Eastern Kenya, he said he got rid of me because I’m divisive and I don’t like the unity of the country.
When he went to Nyanza, he said that I am primitive and corrupt. When he came to the mountain he never said I’m tribal because he cannot say that. He never said I’m incompetent because he cannot do that. He said that I was asking for 10B. In fact on Thursday morning he met women dancers. There is a group of a thousand women that I put together to dance for Uhuru Kenyatta.
And then I handed the dance group to William Ruto. Most of them are friends of my late mother. Others are women whom I have educated their children from form one up to university. My friends. He met them and told them.
During the 2022 elections, William Ruto picked me as running mate because of my mobilization skills and my capacity to mobilize resources. Everybody knows I’m not a poor man. I was in a lot of trouble with the fourth administration because of funding William Ruto. The fourth administration froze my accounts so that I stopped funding William Ruto.
The fourth administration blocked all my businesses so that I stopped giving money to William Ruto. I put serious money into his campaign. I am not the kind of man to go asking William Ruto to give me any money. In any case, let me ask you a question. William Ruto should make up his mind how much money I’m supposed to have asked.
His chief propapagandist, Dennis Itumbi said I’m asking for KES 6.5B, his mister fix it Kimani Ichungwa went to Europe in an interview and said I’m asking for 8B, William Ruto says I’m asking for KES10B. Between his mister fix it and his chief propagandist and William Ruto, can’t they sit down and agree the figure, that Igathi Gachagua is supposed to have asked for?
So I want to explain to you that there is nothing like that. It was just a narrative he wanted to bring to the mountain because he needed to explain to them. Because he omitted himself that he would never humiliate his deputy. He went beyond. He needed something to tell the people of the mountain. But of course everybody knows it’s a lie because if that was true it should have come in the impeachment.
On William Ruto Offering Him 2B To Resign
He sent a very senior officer in government. When he called me we disagreed, and he said ‘I can’t work with you, I would like you to resign, and if you don’t, I’ll impeach you.’ And later on in the interview, I will tell you why we disagreed.
And he said, instead of you going home empty-handed, and since you assisted me, I would like you to go with your retirement package, and I can get you some money to get you started off, 1.5B. I told him to go to hell. I’m not interested. I’m priceless. I am not a man to be given 2B shillings, you know what kind of money I am into.
On Thursday, the national assembly resolved that I should be impeached by going to the senate. That Friday morning he sent a very senior officer to come and see me. And he gave me his terms and again it’s my ethics because I don’t record people but I recorded that conversation of the officer giving me that offer from the president.
The following day he told the officer I should go and have a discussion with him. And I refused to go to State House. He suggested I go to his hotel, the Weston hotel. I refused. So we met somewhere along State House Road in one of the safe houses run by the national intelligence service. And between me, that officer and myself we had a discussion with the president. Again I recorded that conversation for posterity.
Because I know William Ruto. I put it on record. Again he gave me that offer. I told him I will think about it. I didn’t want to have a fight with him because it was not necessary. That officer persuaded me that I should listen to the president.
And because he’s a man from home he said it doesn’t matter. I declined.
The day I went to the senate, that officer again was dispatched by the president. And I refused to see him but after consultation with my councils I agreed to see him. Again he brought me another offer. I recorded that conversation.
On Funding Kenya Kwanza Campaigns And Asking For Refund
I don’t think so because when I was funding the president there was no issue. If I needed my money back from him or whatever it is, we will discuss. I have not asked the president to refund me any money. I’m a leader. That was an investment in the presidential campaign. He was president.
I was running it. I too had a responsibility to spend money on the campaign. And that’s why I’m saying I’m not the kind of person to ask him for money. And he knows that because I’m an astute businessman who have worked for many years and made my own money. And I was in a campaign on my own volition. The president did not force me to be the campaign. I spend my money because I thought it’s the right thing to do.
I mobilized resources from friends. And I did not ask him. And if I had asked him he should have said then. He cannot say now. Six months after.
On Farouk Kibet Running Government and When His Friendship With The President Started Going South
Farouk Kibet is not a small man. He is a co-president in this country. He runs the government. Everybody reports to him. The inspector general police, the head of public service, cabinet ministers, William Ruto issues instructions to cabinet ministers tremble at his very sight.
So Farouk Kibet wanted to give instructions to Rigathi Gachagua. I was elected by the people of Kenya alongside William Ruto. There is no way I would have allowed Farouk Kibet to give instructions to me. Farouk was trying to run my office. Make appointments for people to come and see me.
Initially I thought it’s okay maybe that’s how William Ruto wants us to work. Until I learned that Farouk was collecting money from people to come and see me. And I have nothing to give them in return. And I went and I told the president. I told the president about it and he told me off saying there was no problem for Farouk to collect the little amounts he was collecting.
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