‘Uhuru would have fired Ruto and replaced him with Gideon Moi,' Gachagua now claims

Kenya Kwanza Coalition Deputy Presidential candidate Rigathi Gachagua says the position of Deputy President in the country should not be appointive but should remain elective hence constitutionally protected as currently is.

Speaking during the Deputy Presidential Debate at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) on Tuesday, Gachagua alleged that if the 2010 constitution did not protect the second in command, the current fallout between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto would have been much messier since DP Ruto would already have been fired.

In what seemed to be an escalated attack by the DP Ruto team on claims about the dynasty narrative in the country, the Mathira MP alleged that President Kenyatta would have laid off the DP and replaced him with late President Moi’s son Gideon Moi which he says was the master plan.

“If it was the previous constitution, William Ruto would have been sacked a long time ago and replaced with Gideon Moi,” Gachagua claimed.

“And that was the plan; to provoke him, intimidate him, humiliate him, persecute him, his friends and allies so that he could quit the government and allow Uhuru Kenyatta to appoint somebody from a family that they share the same issues or the same values.”

Gachagua defended his party leader saying that Ruto had undertaken all the government-given mandate during his tenure in office.

"The duty he (Ruto) has been allocated all the time without failure is to welcome the president at the Nyayo stadium and he has done that in style," Gachagua said.

"The president chose not to allocate him duties, he made that decision for his own reason, he wanted to push Ruto out but he stayed because he enjoys some mandate from the people."

Citing the recent push by the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition to have the DP resign on allegations of misuse of public funds, the MP said the deputy president position should remain a people-elected position.

“The framers of the constitution were very clear that the deputy president needed to enjoy mandate directly from the people,” the lawmaker said. “Why Azimio cannot push William Ruto is not an appointee of President Uhuru Kenyatta, he is elected by the people of Kenya.”