DP Gachagua explains why he skipped President Ruto’s Nyeri church function

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has set the record straight on the events leading up to him missing a church function in Nyeri County on Sunday, September 15, which President William Ruto also attended.

Gachagua was anticipated to join Ruto at the AIPCA Central Western Archdiocese in Nyeri township but the DP was a no show despite the event’s organisers setting up a chair for him, next to the President’s, in anticipation of his arrival.

Before this, Gachagua had attended centenary celebrations at the Our Lady of Sorrows Baricho Catholic Parish in Kirinyaga County.

With the two counties within close proximity of each other, Gachagua’s absence at the event, organised in his perceived political backyard, raised plenty of eyebrows, amid talks of a possible rift between the two Kenya Kwanza frontmen and a supposed plot to impeach the DP.

Addressing the incident in an exclusive interview with Citizen TV from his Karen residence in Nairobi on Friday, Gachagua explained that his original itinerary for the day involved him attending both functions alongside the President.

A last-minute change to Ruto’s plans, he said, however altered the day’s schedule. 

“I think people talk from ignorance. There were two functions that the President was supposed to attend; one in Kirinyaga, the other in Nyeri. They (events) were in his diary and I align my diary with the President’s diary. Therefore, I was in Kirinyaga to receive him,” Gachagua told Citizen TV’s Sam Gituku during the interview.

“When I was in Kirinyaga, I was informed that he had changed (his plans) and he would attend a function in Nairobi. So, I purposed to go attend the event in Kirinyaga and join him in Nyeri later.”

The Kirinyaga event, Gachagua stated, was held in a Catholic church whose two-hour-long mass service he had to sit through.

By the time the mass concluded, Ruto had already arrived in Nyeri from the Nairobi event. Gachagua contemplated travelling to Nyeri to link up with Ruto but found the idea unfeasible.

“The function I attended was in a Catholic Church. Their mass takes two hours and can never be interrupted so I sat through the mass. By the time the mass was over, the President was already in Nyeri," he explained.

“I could not leave halfway (through the mass) and go to Nyeri. The President had already arrived in Nyeri; even if I left Kirinyaga and flew to Nyeri, I would not find him there so it did not make sense. I decided to stay in Kirinyaga and represent him.”

The DP further faulted a section of Nyeri leaders allied to President Ruto for allegedly organizing to have the empty chair set up next to the Head of State to seemingly paint him in a bad light.

“I think some mischeveous people in Nyeri who work around the President put an empty chair knowing very well that I am in another function and took photographs just for mischief,” the DP said.

“The minute the President arrived before I left Kirinyaga, it was logistically impossible for me to go to Nyeri.”

Gituku then asked the DP if an alleged plot to heckle him had deterred him from attending the Nyeri event.

“We have intel that part of the reason you did not go to Nyeri was that there were people organized to heckle you…,” said Gituku.

“No. Your intel is wrong. Nyeri is my home. Even if there was anything in Nyeri, how can I not go to my home. No one can heckle me in Nyeri and the Mt. Kenya region I attend all functions," Gachagua insisted.