Wamuchomba: Gachagua became a target after Ruto chose him as his deputy

According to Wamuchomba, Gachagua has a target on his back ever since he was picked by William Ruto as his presidential running mate on May 15, 2022, against "the favourite" candidate Kithure Kindiki who is now the Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS).

Speaking on Monday, Wamuchomba narrated that Gachagua's selection was loathed because it was against the will of most MPs hailing from the Mt Kenya region.

"The agreement was the running mate had to come from the Mt. Kenya region. Those MPs who were already in Parliament including Gachagua were supposed to get into a room and agree to nominate one person who was going to be the candidate," she said on Citizen TV.

Wamuchoma said four candidates were forwarded for the DP position, among them MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Alice Wahome (then Kandara), Kithure Kindiki (then Tharaka-Nithi Senator) and Rigathi Gachagua.

Nyoro and Wahome were dropped in the first round of voting, leaving the other two to contest for the second most powerful seat in the Kenya Kwanza coalition.

"We had to cast ballots inside the room and we got five votes for Gachagua against 11 for Kindiki. We decided to whip each other and increase the numbers and we did the second round of nominations," said Wamuchomba.

"Gachagua got 21 votes and Kindiki got 38 votes and we did not agree because the President wanted Gachagua and the majority wanted Kindiki so we had to justify why we wanted Gachagua over Kindiki."

Despite the majority votes being in Kindiki's favour, Wamuchomba says President Ruto still picked Gachagua, making him a punching bag for many.

"I told the President if you go with the popular candidate these people will swing you all the time and they have the favourable candidate. Get the one who is not like because he is a worker, he is an administrator [and] you need an administrator," Wamuchomba noted.

"His problems started from the majority who did not want him. They started fights from the word go and all they do is that whenever they have access to the president they will always demean him."

Her sentiments lie on the backdrop of heightening clamour against DP Gachagua amid rumours that there is a plan to impeach him.

This has been preceded by a seemingly bitter split between Gachagua and his boss President Ruto, forcing the DP to send a warning against those propagating politics of betrayal.

During a church service on Sunday, Gachagua warned Ruto that if the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party is not put in order, then he risks losing the trust of the Mt. Kenya people and that nothing can be done to salvage the situation. 

"I want to urge President Ruto to put his house in order and allow us to work. We have a mandate to fulfil to the Kenyan people, we need to get down to work," he noted.