Rigathi Gachagua: My impeachment can only come from President Ruto

Embattled Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has opened up about a plot to impeach him even as he revealed that such a motion can only come to Parliament on the express approval of President William Ruto.

In an explosive interview with Citizen TV on Friday night, Mr Gachagua laid bare the power struggle that has rocked the two-year-old Kenya Kwanza administration, talking about plans to frustrate his involvement in government function.

He said he has since confronted President Ruto about the scheme to kick him out of office, a claim he said the President denied.

“There is no motion of impeachment against the deputy president that can find itself on the floor of the house unless the President gives a nod. Nobody else has the capacity to push it apart from the President,” said Mr Gachagua.

Mr Gachagua had earlier in the day, at a function in Nairobi City, claimed that MPs were being bribed to kick him out of office. He, however, did not mention the powerful forces pushing for his impeachment.

Though he insisted that he had a healthy working relationship with the President, he gave anecdotes that could only indicate his deteriorating working relationship with Dr Ruto, disclosing how he has been blocked from accessing the President's diary.

At the weekend, Mr Gachagua skipped a presidential church function in his Nyeri backyard.

Mr Gachagua was expected to receive and play host to President Ruto for the official launch of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) Central-Western Archdiocese in Nyeri town but the second-in-command was kilometers away at Our Lady of Sorrows Baricho Catholic Parish in the neighbouring Kirinyaga County.

Sitting next to an empty seat reserved for Mr Gachagua was President Ruto. But Mr Gachagua now says that he skipped the event because he has been blocked from accessing the President’s diary.

“I was not aware of the time. I think about a week ago, we (Mr Gachagua and his senior staff) were removed from the president’s diary. So, we are not able to follow exactly what is going on...and align,” Mr Gachagua told Citizen TV.

He added: “There is mischief to remove me from the presidential diary so that once I do not attend a presidential event, it can be purported that I am absconding duty. I want to ask people working around the presidency not to create conflict between the President and I.”

His revelations are a pointer to deep-rooted political infighting within the Presidency.

Dr Ruto’s allies led by National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah have accused Mr Gachagua of rocking Kenya Kwanza administration from within.

Mr Gachagua, in a passionate appeal, asked his boss to protect him from people he said were the President’s friends and who he said were hell-bent on disrespecting and undermining his office.

He asked President Ruto to keep his word in the run-up to the 2022 presidential elections campaign to ensure a deputy president does not go through the intimidation that he (Dr Ruto) had gone through under President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“It looks like there is a jinx around this office of the deputy president. In the first year, the President did not allow anyone to disrespect me or interfere with my work but the second year, that is happening. Today, I am abused by people hanging on his car and the President is quiet.  

"Now, I want to ask the President, my boss, to keep his word. You made a promise to the people of Kenya, and my family, that you will not allow your deputy to be intimidated, coerced, abused, insulted, and undermined. Mr President, please keep your word. If you only keep one promise, let it be this one to make sure tour deputy is not intimidated, coerced and abused,” Mr Gachagua said.