In his own words: Gachagua talks being removed from President’s diary WhatsApp group

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua requested to be interviewed on TV on Friday night and went ahead to deliver heavyweight punches to forces against him inside the Kenya Kwanza government.

The punches came in the form of his insistence that his ultimate boss is the Kenyan people.

He also said repeatedly that the troubles he is facing in his office have come too early, noting that his boss, President William Ruto, had at least five years of peace before his boat began being rocked.

One of his claims was that he was recently ejected from the WhatsApp group where President William Ruto’s events are planned.

Below is what Mr Gachagua said on the subject during his interview with Citizen TV’s Sam Gituku.

On his recent absence from some Presidential events:

I always align my diary with that of the president, all the time. And as long as I am aware of his functions, I align accordingly. So, sometimes if I'm not aware, I'm not able to align because I also have my own programme...I think about a week ago...we have a diary for the President, where I am there, my private secretary is there, my chief of staff is there and all his issues are there. So, we align. I think about a week ago, we were removed from that diary, you know? So, we are not able to follow exactly what is going on. So, we are not able to align. 

Q: You said your team has been recently kicked out or removed from the diarisation of events between your office and the Office of the President? 

Yes, that is true. And my reading of it: There is some mischief.

I am a very obedient public officer. I was a man in uniform, and I have tremendous respect for the President and his office, I will be the last person not to attend events by the President or to go late.

And from the way I read it, there is some mischief to remove me from the diary, from the page where the diary is, so that once I don't attend presidential events, it can be purported that I am absconding duty. And I hear that is one of the grounds they wanted to look for impeachment so they say Rigathi Gachagua does not attend presidential functions. Or again, sometimes they want me to get late so that it appears like I'm disrespectful. 

I want to ask the people who work around the Presidency not to create conflict between the President and myself. I am the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, elected by the people. And I am the principal assistant of the President. It is only right and fair that I have access to the presidential diary so that I align my diary with his diary because he's the boss. But if I'm in the dark and I don't know what is happening, I am not an angel to know exactly where the president will be, at what time. Then it's not right. 

So, if Kenyans don't see me in any presidential function, I want to tell them today: it is because I am not aware of the function. And the function they see me in is the one I have been invited, but previously I had access to the diary and -- without even talking to the President, or even to the comptroller -- I would align my diary with his; because his takes precedence over mine because he's the boss.

Now, it becomes very difficult for me even now to work on my diary, because I don't know what the President has. So, it has really even made my work very complicated because I am just there, not knowing what the President has. So, I am not able to arrange my events going forward, but what I'll do: I'll talk to the President at the right time, and I'll see what's the problem. 

I don't think the President, in my view, will be petty to ask anybody to remove me from the diary. I think it's just some handlers around the presidency who want to create mischief to portray me as somebody who's disrespectful and to portray me as somebody who is absconding duty. I am a workaholic and everybody knows, including the President, that I'm available for duty. I'm available to assist the President 24/7. But work needs to be made, you know, straight so that we are able to work properly, so that I align my diary with his and I'm able to assist him as it is supposed to be.

Q: Who is the custodian of that diary?

There is a page with everybody there. There is the Head of Public Service, there is the President himself. There's the Comptroller of State House, there is the Deputy Chief of Staff, there is me, there was my chief of staff, there was my private secretary, there were our security people -- the people really who handle the President and myself were on that page...They are the ones who handle the president's issues; his movement, you know, hospitality people, security people are on that page. So that once his activities are known, everybody aligns automatically. And there has been a lot of efficiency because you have the information so that you are able to plan. You are able to coordinate. If you are flying, you know; you are going by chopper, you prepare. If you are going by road, you know. But when you don't have that information, then it becomes extremely difficult for my office to align with the President's office.

Q: So, this diary, is it a physical book?

No, it's a WhatsApp group.

Q: WhatsApp group?

You know, things are good now with this digital space. It's a WhatsApp group and it's updated as you go along. And the President sometimes updates himself, the Comptroller does it, and we all keep aligning ourselves. So sometimes he'll have a programme, he'll move it from this day to that day, I'll go into my diary and change mine and align with his.

Q: So, your team is no longer in that WhatsApp group?

No, myself, I was removed; my private secretary was removed, my chief of staff was removed, so we have no access to the President's diary.

Q: Who removed you?

The private secretary to the president. He's called Maiyo. I will show you. I was looking for my phone, I wanted to show you. He removed me. So, once we are not there, then we don't know what's going on. So, let no Kenyan, and let those people in State House who are trying to say that I don't attend meetings, let them return me to the page so that I know what the President is doing, where he's going, what time...so that I'm able to align and give him support as I've always been doing. But I cannot do it when I don't have access to that information. 

Q: Does the President know you're no longer in the WhatsApp group? 

I don't know. I've not asked him... To be truthful, initially, I thought is a little bit petty, but now that the matter has been raised and I have seen Kenyans asking, and I have seen some mischievous bloggers in State House trying to insinuate that I’m absconding duty, I have decided to give this information to the people of Kenya, in the spirit of the truthful man, a man who speaks the truth, so that the people of Kenya know exactly why I'm not in those functions. I think I owe Kenyans the truth...I'm employed by the people of Kenya. They need to know: why is the Deputy president, whom they elected, not alongside the president in the functions? I think we need to give that information to the people of Kenya.

Q:  And do you know why you would be removed? 

I don't know. But I have told you they are mischievous people around the president. 

Q: Why are they mischievous against you, deputy president?

Well, I don't know. How do you explain mischief? People have many motives. People have many motives. There are mischievous people trying to create a wedge between me and the President. 

Q: Would you resign?

No, never. Why? I have been given a job by the people of Kenya. This job has its own hindrances and challenges. It's part of the job process. And when I took this job, I knew it is not easy. Only I didn't know it will be that soon. I thought probably we will have a good time in the first five years and if there are challenges, maybe later. It is only that it has come sooner than we anticipated, and we had been given a commitment that this will not come. But now that has come, we live with it. We'll just work.

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