Why DP Gachagua wants NIS Director General Noordin Haji to resign

Addressing the press in Mombasa, a seemingly agitated DP blamed the NIS for the current anti-government protests which he said have led to deaths and destruction.

Despite President William Ruto making a last-minute turn and pronouncing himself on the matter that he would not ascent the controversial Finance Bill 2024 which resulted in countrywide demos, Gachagua says that the NIS failed in its mandate to inform the head of state of the situation on the ground before the citizens took to the streets.

While terming the last-minute decision by President Ruto to recall the Bill ‘embarrassing’ to the Kenya Kwanza government, Gachagua asserted that if Haji had done his job well and ensured the president and his administration were well aware of the public’s position on the Bill, no one would have died.

“Ruto deserves better, he deserves a DG who knows what he is doing, who is effective and can analyse situations to keep the government informed,” said Gachagua.

“It is embarrassing for me as DP that it has taken protests, deaths, mayhem and destruction for the president to know the truth yet there is an organization charged with that role.”

Gachagua argues that Haji’s incompetence stems from bungled circumstances surrounding his appointment to the state agency.

According to the deputy president, when Haji assumed the position of DG at NIS, he suffered an inferiority complex since he was once a junior officer at the same institution before he was promoted to his previous role as the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

The DP revealed that when Haji took over as NIS DG, he could not work with the already existing bosses since he had served under them, and thus he had to remove them from other state departments. As a result, Gachagua says the Intelligence body was stripped of competent individuals as other junior officers assumed high-ranking positions.

“Haji was a junior officer in the NIS before he was appointed as DPP. When he was appointed to the office as DG, because of the inferiority complex, he chased away all the people who were senior to him when he was in the service, thereby crippling the capacity of that service and making it dysfunctional,” said Gachagua.

“Three directors were chased away and reassigned to desk jobs in ministries across government. 13 assistant directors, men and women with proven track records of intelligence collection and analysis were removed from NIS leaving a shell and a clueless DG with no capacity to run the organization.”

The second in command further accused Haji of undertaking frequent travels across the globe which led him to lose his touch and grasp with the people and affairs of the nation and was thus unable to advise the president effectively. 

“Had Noordin Haji done his job, we would not be here today. He has no capacity, he is out of the country most of the time on business trips and the country is on its own and my boss is exposed and he has to back down and admit that he has heard the people yet this matter has been in the public for over two months,” said the DP.

The DP consequently implored his boss to act accordingly and restore the three senior NIS directors dismissed together with the other 13 assistant directors in order to ensure the institution carries out its mandate effectively.

He also tasked the NIS boss to take responsibility for the lives of Kenyans lost in demos and the property lost countrywide.

“Haji must take responsibility for the deaths that occurred and for the mayhem and for failing Ruto, the government and he must take responsibility for failing the people for not doing his job and advising correctly. He must do the honourable thing, by not only taking responsibility but resigning from that office and allowing the president to pick a competent DG,” said Gachagua.

“I want to request President Ruto to consider as a matter of urgency to recall the three directors and 13 assistant directors removed from the service to come and help reconstruct the service and restore sanity back to NIS to serve the president, government and the people.”