Foot in Mouth: Gachagua struggles to shake off past comments as he goes to war with Ruto

Meet Rigathi Gachagua, the honest man who, for the last two years shocked, flabbergasted, bamboozled, discombobulated, surprised, and confused both friends and enemies with his take-no-prisoners approach to life.

Whenever he opened his mouth, no one knew what would spill out and he always defended himself by saying he only speaks the truth.

Last Sunday, the man and his mouth were on the loose but this time, the orchestra was singing a totally different tune. They were not singing praises of President Ruto and his government but the complete opposite.

All it took was to get Parliament to impeach the man from Mathira and make him the "former" Deputy President of Kenya to get him to sing like a canary and the hits kept coming. It felt wrong to get all that information and drama for free, this was a Pay-Per-View kind of content. 

A close scrutiny of Rigathi Gachagua over the last few days would paint a picture totally in contrast with Riggy G, the truthful man who shoots from the hip.

During the final day of his Senate impeachment proceedings, Gachagua was taken ill but nevertheless the Senate, despite pleadings from his legal team to hold the fort until he recovered to give his defense, went ahead and impeached him. 

Upon his discharge from the hospital on Sunday, Gachagua came out a civilian. Shock, anger and bitterness were written all over his face as he insisted that he remained the bona fide office holder of the position, with court orders to that effect. 

A tired-looking Gachagua went on to narrate poisoning attempts on his life a few months ago and one could read between the lines the acrimony and treachery visited on him by people he had hitherto considered comrades. 

In a bare-knuckle attack, he blamed President William Ruto for his predicaments, claiming his opposition to certain controversial and infamous policies fronted by the Executive had become his Waterloo.

Gachagua’s bodyguards, police escort aides and vehicles plus police security at his various homes had been withdrawn as he lay ailing in hospital.

Fresh out of hospital, Gachagua claimed he had opposed the controversial deals being given to the Indian conglomerate Adani Group. 

The ‘truthful man’ claimed to have opposed the introduction of the punitive taxes, levies and fees Kenyans had been subjected to.

He also claimed he raised issues with the now rejected Finance Bill 2024 which saw a strong wave of Gen Z protests and lastly, claimed to have been opposed to the runaway corruption in government to his detriment. 

A once pro-establishment apologist

To the public eye, none of these positions now taken by Gachagua on important public discourses over the past many months come close to the recorded truth. 

When Gachagua was earlier asked to comment on the Adani - JKIA leasing deal, he denied any knowledge of the same and said at a media press conference on September 29, 2024, that the details were never brought to the Cabinet. How he opposed what he did not know remains a riddle to the public.

Gachagua claimed to have opposed the punitive Kenya Kwanza higher taxes and levies Kenyans were subjected to immediately after they took power.

However, Riggy G, while at a function in St Andrews Church in Nairobi, was asked by a church minister why the hefty taxes on Kenyans by the government and he craftily answered that even the clergy have to collect the congregations’ dues.

He said that’s the position President Ruto found himself in when he took over government. 

Rigathi Gachagua, on October 2023, while addressing a gathering of legislators, businesspeople, and professionals at the Nyeri Golf Club during the Mt Kenya Golf Festival tournament, again defended Kenya Kwanza’s tax policies, as well as Ruto's numerous foreign trips, at a time when Kenya was grappling with skyrocketing living costs.

Gachagua said that Ruto's "journeys to all manner of countries" were not "holidays" or "picnics" but rather serious resource mobilization trips.

Gachagua said the Kenya Kwanza government had “tightened revenue collection”, in other words, raised taxes to meet its financial obligations.

It would therefore be open to any observer that at no point did Gachagua give any contradictory position to the spirited move by the Ruto administration to collect hefty taxes from its citizens.

On matters of Finance Bill 2024, Gachagua took to the defence of Members of Parliament who voted to enact the since-rejected Bill. Gachagua said the MPs were simply carrying out their duties and hence should not be questioned by anyone.

He insisted that governments are formed by parties, and Members of Parliament must always support any policy brought to the House by their parties, in this case Kenya Kwanza government.

He told the youth that “MPs have the freedom to exercise their right to vote” probably without due regard to the people they represent.

The impeached Deputy President also took umbrage with the withdrawal of his security saying his life is in danger. Again, the records show that he was one of the cheerleaders when the government pulled a similar move on other leaders including former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

In June 2023, Gachagua, while speaking at the Alliance High School where he had gone to lay the foundation stone for a new Chapel, said all Azimio opposition leaders who had had their state security withdrawn would have to wait for three months to get them reinstated. This drew heavy criticism and protests from the affected leaders. 

Gachagua took time to castigate the opposition for staging the public demos against the high cost of living and said the government would only reinstate their security detail after three months and on the condition that within that time there would be no public demos.

But politics being a bed of strange bedfellows, Kalonzo did not stick his tongue out and yell "I told you so" to Riggy G, but actually castigated the government for withdrawing his security.

On October 18, Kalonzo called for the reinstatement of Gachagua's security saying “Gachagua is still Kenya’s Deputy President after the High Court suspended the appointment of a new DP.” Today, Gachagua’s security is gone, who will talk on his behalf?

The battle to overturn Impeachment

A sombre, angry and stung Gachagua is now in court. Having been impeached by Parliament, he has resorted to the law to demand his pound of flesh.

The government has said in court that the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear the case opposing Gachagua’s impeachment and it is an interesting time as the country goes through the case of the first impeached deputy president in its history.

Other vice presidents were simply sacked by the roadside and served at the president’s pleasure. Many observers say not much has changed yet others insist that the new Constitution is a game changer as parliament and the courts have the final say.

A citizen away from VIP

Today, Gachagua now walks the streets of Nairobi as a common man. Out with the heavily trained driver and his place taken by his son.

The trappings of power, traffic stoppage, salute from all security agents, an entourage of vehicles even when heading to lunch at home and VIP treatment at every facility are seemingly things from the past, a past he relishes with whining and is seemingly shut as Kindiki Kithure is nominated the Deputy President nominee awaiting the end of the lawsuits to take his oath of office.

His short experience in elective politics might have cost him dearly and failed to arm him with the wisdom and craftiness of a sage in Kenyan politics. 

His unfettered meteoric rise in politics would seem to be his poisoned chalice! Trust is not one of the virtues in Kenyan politics.