DP Gachagua narrates resistance from family as he warns police of running homes ‘like police stations’

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has come out to discuss a time following his tenure as a police officer when he says he experienced resistance from his family for running domestic affairs “the way he was running his command”.

Gachagua, while advising members of the police when he attended Sunday’s Uniformed Officers Service at Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi, told the officers of problems caused by transferring command from their workstations to their homes.

He narrated how after his service as a District Officer Cadet, he would visit his family during weekends and command his way around the household, much to his wife’s noncompliance.

“When I was a young officer for 14 years and I was all over the country and come to see my family on Fridays for two days. But those two days were not enough. So I took early retirement and came back home. I found a lot of problems because I was still trying to run my home they way I was running my command and there was a lot of resistance,” the DP told congregants.

“I was trying to give orders, wanting things done in a certain way and my wife, Pastor Dorcas, was just looking at me like ‘This guy, what’s wrong with him? He has been away for so long and we’ve being doing things a certain way and now he wants to order everybody around’,” he said.

The country’s second-in-command advised officers, especially those in administrative roles, to cast their professional “command” aside when they visit their families and assume the role of a spouse or parent.

“If you are an Officer Commanding Station, please, when you go home, be a good father and husband. Don’t try to run your place like a police station because there will be resistance. Just leave your command outside your doorstep and be a good parent,” Gachagua said.