Kenya's ousted Deputy President Gachagua links NIS to plot to poison him

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua claims there were two attempts on his life before parliament embarked on the impeachment process, which is nearly creating a constitutional conflict in the East African nation. 

A visibly subdued Gachagua,  who left Karen Hospital where he has been on treatment since Thursday,  recalled two incidents where officers from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) allegedly attempted to kill him on diverse dates last month during official trips.

"I don’t feel safe. On August 30th undercover cover police agents in Kisumu entered my room and one of them tried to poison my food but we detected it and we were able to escape. I was supposed to be killed through poisoning," he claimed.

"On September 3rd in Nyeri, NIS officers came to Nyeri and tried to poison food belonging to me and Kikuyu elders. I reported the matter to NIS and asked the officers assigned to my office to leave. After attempts to assassinate me failed, this impeachment motion was hatched," Gachagua argued.

The claims cannot be independently verified by Garowe Online but a few weeks ago, there were reports that Mr. Gachagua had started skipping meals during public events.  He made the allegations while leaving the hospital where he had been taken ill.

While scolding his boss President William Ruto,  Gachagua said the head of state 'hates anyone who tells him the truth'. He faulted the decision to withdraw his security detail after the Senate upheld his impeachment,  noting that 'I was not given a fair hearing,  they should have waited until I recover'.

"When I was here in the hospital, my brother and friend President Ruto ordered the withdrawal of my security in my Keren residence and rural home in Nyeri County. All officers close to me were disarmed and warned not to be anywhere near me."

The embattled DP went on to lament that Ruto had betrayed him, adding that he was being persecuted for telling the president the 'truth'. Particularly,  he said forced evictions,  punitive finance bills, and secret financial deals are some of the issues he openly opposed, leading to the current predicaments. 

"I am shocked by how a man I helped become President, a man I believed in, and a man I was even prosecuted for supporting, could be so vicious against me when I am fighting for my life in the hospital. How can a man be so cruel?

"President Ruto ordered all my employees to take compulsory leave, crippling the office of the Deputy President. At my lowest moment in life while struggling to stay alive, I don’t understand this level of viciousness," he noted.

President William Ruto has nominated Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to take over but the courts issued conservatory orders against his swearing-in. Gachagua now says he has faith in courts and hopes that 'justice will be served'. The case challenging his removal starts on Tuesday,  October 22nd.

According to him, had he not been taken ill, he would have appeared for cross-examination during Senate proceedings.  The estranged deputy president further said there was an elaborate scheme to block him from attending the Mashujaa Day fete in Kwale, arguing that state agents had warned aircraft from ferrying him to the coast. 

GAROWE ONLINE