Grapevine

Messy divorce: Billions at centre of Gachagua-Ruto fallout

President William Ruto and his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua. [File, Standard]

The political marriage between President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua is irretrievably broken. At the heart of the discordant union where the partners are in a bruising battle are billions of shillings and unrealized campaign pledges.

These, insiders say, have broken the friendship between two comrades that had come together, braced and braved raw state power to mount one of the most formidable campaigns ever witnessed in the country.

Two years and hundreds of millions in shillings later, Ruto and Gachagua cannot see eye to eye and are now engaged in an acrimonious divorce that is turning out to be noisy and messy.

Welcome to the world of President Ruto and his deputy whose friendship was so tight that it needed no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).