Kenya’s embattled outgoing Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, calls himself the “truthful man”, attributing his remarkable rise to the fact that he speaks truth to power.
He says these troubles are also a result of his outspoken nature.
Before he was elected MP in 2017, little was known about the man who would, in five short years, rise to become Kenya’s second-in-command.
Not many people outside Gachagua’s central Kenya constituency had heard of him or his style of politics.
Gachagua captured the limelight in the run-up to the 2022 elections, when he vehemently opposed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s choice of preferred successor.
Kenyatta was campaigning heavily for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
But Gachagua allied himself with William Ruto, Kenyatta’s then deputy, who was angling for the presidency that his boss did not want to bequeath to him.
Gachgua, a wealthy businessman from the vote-rich central Mount Kenya region who was present in the house in the morning, has described the impeachment as a “political lynching”.
On Thursday evening, the required two-thirds of the 67 senators voted to oust him on charges that included corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and undermining the government.
The senators voted by a large majority to convict him on the first count – enough for him to to be removed from office.
This comes just two years after the Ruto and Gachgua were elected on a joint ticket.
The vote draws a line under months of infighting at the top level of government and consolidates Ruto’s hold on power.
The row came to a head in June when Gachagua, in an act seen as undermining the president, blamed the head of the intelligence agency for not properly briefing Ruto and the government over the magnitude of mass protests against unpopular tax hikes.
In a huge blow to his authority, Ruto had just been forced to withdraw the taxes. He sacked his cabinet and brought in members of the opposition to his government.
Ruto has not commented on the impeachment of his deputy.
At the start of the trial, one of Gachagua’s lawyers, Elisha Ongoya, said all of the allegations were “either false, ridiculous or embarrassing”.
Before the vote, Gachagua had said he would challenge the decision if it passed.
A doctor is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying the 59-year-old had gone to hospital with heart trouble, but was stable and undergoing tests.
Kenyan media have already been reporting about his possible replacements, with four people mentioned:
At political rallies and in media circles, Gachagua railed against Kenyatta, often in words that other politicians would find cringeworthy.
“Don’t kill me the way your father killed JM Kariuki,” he said at a rally in July 2022, referring to an MP who was killed in 1975 during the administration of Jomo Kenyatta, the nation’s first president and the father of Uhuru Kenyatta.
To this day, no one has been found guilty of Kariuki’s death.
Before he became Kenya’s deputy president, police raided Gachagua’s home and arrested him in relation to a corruption and money-laundering case. The charges were dropped after he and Ruto took power following the 2022 election.
He had helped Ruto win by marshalling support in Mount Kenya – the biggest voting bloc in the country. Both Gachagua and Kenyatta come from there. Kenyatta had tried to rally Mount Kenya’s voters to throw their weight behind Odinga, but he failed.
Long before Kenyatta became president in 2013, Gachagua had worked closely with him, including as his personal assistant for five years.
But after teaming up with Ruto, Gachagua went from being Kenyatta’s “confidant” to one of his harshest critics.
However, since falling out with his current boss, Gachagua has apologised to Kenyatta, saying it was “foolish” of him to have “fought my own brother”.
This humility is in sharp contrast to his rhetoric as Ruto’s running-mate – analyst Javas Bigamo had even described Gachagua as a “feared political bulldog that Ruto needed to be able to counter President Kenyatta in the central region”.
Gachagua was praised as an excellent mobiliser, who had the ear of ordinary people on the ground.
Yet he was probably not the person many expected to take the deputy position, given that Gachagua had only being a politician for five years and was up against more seasoned candidates.
Ruto explained he had chosen Gachagua because “he is one of those leaders who are passionate about ordinary people”.
Gachagua has always been accused of being brash and aggressive – it was one of the reasons some argued against his selection to the running mate position prior to the 2022 election. But in recent months, this criticism has increased.
He denies this assessment of his character, along with assertions that he alienates his fellow politicians.
He says all he does is “speak the truth”, which he insists has made him unpopular within certain political factions.
“I will not compromise my principles,” he said over the weekend as calls for his impeachment came to a crescendo.
Gachagua has often identified himself as a child of the Mau Mau freedom fighters, who battled British colonial rule.
He was born in 1965 to parents who he has said were well known for their involvement in the struggle for freedom. His father built and serviced guns and his mother was a courier of ammunition and food for the fighters, Gachagua said.
His lineage has painted him as a champion of people in central Kenya, many of whom are descendants of independence struggle icons, but still continue to fight for economic freedom.
A popular catchphrase associated with the deputy president is “don’t touch the mountain”, a reference to his support base in the Mount Kenya region. However, he has also been accused of promoting tribalism rather than being a unifying figure.
But Gachagua has defended himself, insisting that speaking for the central Kenya region is not the same as antagonising other communities.
Before joining politics, Gachagua had had a long career.
After completing university, he began working as a public administrator in government, and as a district officer in different locations across the country.
The district administrators of that time, during Daniel arap Moi’s presidency, were known for their high-handedness. It is an accusation that has stuck with him, including in present circumstances.
He worked as Kenyatta’s personal assistant between 2001 and 2006 – at a time when Kenyatta was a minister, presidential candidate and later the leader of the opposition.
Gachagua is a wealthy politician, having built a fortune in business over the years. He is married to a pastor, Dorcas, and they have two adult sons.
In 2017, he vied for the Mathira constituency seat, winning the position that had earlier been held by his elder brother, Nderitu Gachagua.
It is at this time that Gachagua’s fiery character and political abilities started attracting attention.
Yet his public utterances, before and since he became deputy president, have at times been seen as blunders or straight-up disgraceful comments.
He said last year that government was like a shareholding company, with those that voted for the current administration being more deserving of government appointments and contracts.
