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Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said the government has not been listening to Kenyans.

Speaking in Mombasa, Gachagua said that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) failed the country by misinforming the Presidency about the public dissatisfaction with the Finance Bill 2024.

Gachagua appealed to President William Ruto to recall three directors who had been fired from NIS including 13 other assistant directors who he said had been redeployed to office duties.

The deputy president urged the NIS to avoid using powers vested on them by Kenyans against the very people they claim to serve.

President Ruto declined to assent to the Finance Bill 2024, stating that his decision had come following immense public pressure and widespread dissatisfaction with the bill.

“Consequently, having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the finance bill of 2024, I will decline to assent to the bill,” Ruto said on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.

Gachagua heaped praise on Ruto for listening to the people, adding that for a long time, he had been mocked for ‘listening to the ground’ but now he had been vindicated.

Gachagua thanks Ruto

“I am very happy that my President, my boss, has listened to the people,” Gachagua said.

He lamented that he had been pushed away from his role as the president’s advisor, saying other people had taken up this role and had misadvised Ruto.

“Where did we stop listening to the people, President Ruto and I used to be the darlings of the people, where did the rain start beating us,” Gachagua quipped.

He urged the national spy agency to dignify the President by not participating in the abductions that became so rampant in the run-up to the Tuesday, June 25, 2024 protests that saw protesters occupy parliament and destroy several other state offices.

The deputy president urged the youth involved in the protests to find a leader to represent them in engagements with the state.

Gachagua also sympathised with the protesters who lost their lives in the demos, saying the state should arrange for fair compensation to their families.

He advised the youth against targeting members of Parliament who voted in favour of the rejected Finance Bill 2024.

Similarly, he challenged the NIS against targeting members of Parliament who voted against the bill, saying he was aware a plan had been hatched to go after them.

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