Gachagua decries plan to replace PSs with Raila’s allies

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called on MPs from the Mt Kenya region to oppose an alleged bid by President William Ruto to replace 15 Principal Secretaries from the area with those fronted by Raila Odinga.

Gachagua claimed that Ruto retreated to his farm in Narok together with Head of Public Service Felix Koskei over the weekend to plan how to execute an impending reshuffle for PS positions to accommodate Raila men under the broad-based government.

The former Mathira MP claimed that Raila has demanded 15 positions, the equal number occupied by those from the Central region but Ruto plans to give Raila 10 positions

Notably, after completing a five-day development tour in Nairobi on Friday, Ruto has not resurfaced. He was not spotted in  church on Sunday as he usually is.

The former DP said when the Kenya Kwanza government was formed, the Mt Kenya region was given the Ministry of Finance, Interior, Agriculture, Water, Lands, Attorney General and Secretary to the Cabinet.

But after appointing the Cabinet Secretaries in 2023, Gachagua said that Ruto brought in his allies, especially from his Kalenjin tribe and eventually made them more powerful while turning Ministers into mere flower girls in their dockets.

“In one of the public rallies in Mutonyora, I was under fire from Ruto for saying that he only wanted to use the Central region people for votes to get into power. When I was in government, he would send me to functions abroad for about 10 days so that by the time I returned he had already terminated government officials from the area. I would protest but it was always late because he had already achieved what he wanted,” Gachagua said yesterday on Arahuka Show on Kameme FM.

Gachagua who revealed the presence of constant infightings between him and his former boss as they jolted to control the government when he served as DP, recounted how Ruto shot down his proposal that they retain PSs who had served in the previous government to ensure government services ran uninterrupted due to change of regime.

“I had negotiated for 15 PSs seats and I had pleaded with him to retain some of them, but he told me to let all Uhuru people go, we will bring new faces. New PSs were appointed as per his wish, but when the names were announced he had changed the list. He reappointed all Kalenjin PSs who served under Uhuru and when I questioned him, he told me if I want to appoint the PSs I just vie for the Presidency so that I can appoint whoever I want,” Gachagua said.

Silenced legislators

He regretted that after his impeachment, the Mt Kenya region had nobody to defend it, with the ruling regime neglecting it since Ruto who is seeking support in other regions has silenced the 42 legislators from the area.

“Ruto is no longer afraid of losing support from our area. He is showing open favouritism to other regions over our area yet when we speak out we are accused of being tribal. When the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula was recently facing impeachment over impartiality, all the Luhya community rallied behind him so that he is not ejected from office but nobody condemned the move as being tribal,” he said.

Gachagua faulted the criteria used in the recent purge at Parliament committees of both Houses saying it unfairly targeted chairpersons from his backyard who were suspected to be his allies.

Neutral leader

He specifically defended Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro who was ejected as chairman from the powerful Budget and Appropriations Committee, saying Nyoro is a neutral leader who neither supports him nor fights President Ruto.

“I don’t know what mistake Nyoro did. But even if he erred for appearing to support me, there are many Ruto’s point men in the region including in Murang’a who should have been given the seat,” he said.

He termed as misguided the notion by the Central Kenya leaders whom he claimed have insisted on staying and supporting Kenya Kwanza government for the sake of the development of their areas.

“Those leaders in Ruto’s choir cannot get development, yet when your colleagues are being evicted from power committees you cannot defend them. They did not vacate the offices of their volition, they were chased away. Ruto is muzzling the influence of the Mountain region in all arms of government,” he said.

“The one who replaced me (Kindiki Kithure) is tight-lipped. He is a Yes Sir man. The other one from Kikuyu (Kimani Ichung’wah) is his (Ruto’s) secretary for writing minutes of who to be fired.”

He dismissed the broad-based government saying only the Kikuyu community leaders who are being purged from their positions in government to give room for the new appointees fronted by Raila.

Additionally, he criticised Ruto and Raila for creating the broad-based government under the pretext of fostering unity in the country yet all Kenyans are enjoying peace and living in harmony.

 “No community is fighting against the other. The Kikuyu and the Kalenjin are coexisting peacefully. The challenges that the country is facing is not lack of unity but bad economy, lack of medicine in hospitals, university students staying at home due to lack of government funding and punitive taxes,” he said.

Ruto and Raila have maintained that the political pact they signed about a week ago was meant to ease political tensions, entrench national unity and address social and economic challenges that Kenyans are facing.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, a key ally of Ruto, backed the Ruto-Raila pact, describing it as genuine and that the country is now more united, cohesive, and prosperous.

Raila also defended the cooperation with the Kenya Kwanza regime, saying it will prevent a repeat of political tension that almost plunged the country into a military coup after Gen Z protesters attempted to invade parliament.

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