President Elect William Ruto with his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua at the Deputy President residence in Karen, Nairobi on August 5, 2022 after the Supreme Court uphold his Win as the President of Kenya. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]
For months, the push to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was an abstract idea — until it was not.
Hints were dropped. Accusations were hurled, but the defining moment came on June 26, a day after Gen Z protesters — whose agitation was marred by what the government called spoilers — stormed Parliament Buildings and burnt a part of it, a first in the nation’s 61 years of self-rule.
That day, the Deputy President, also known as Riggy G, technically ended his career of his own volition. Since then, he, whether knowingly or not, helped his detractors with his loose talks, turning the wish of President William Ruto’s most loyal politicians into a reality.
In a press conference in Mombasa on June 26, Gachagua unloaded on the government that was reeling from the aftermath of the unprecedented protests. He specifically ripped into the National Intelligence Service, which he called a “dysfunctional” entity that “exposed the President, the government and the people of Kenya.” The Deputy President even appeared to justify the Gen Z rioters’ actions, asking, “Why did we stop listening to the people.” “Where did the rain begin to beat us,” he asked in another.
