Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto of acquiring a major currency printing company through proxies. He claims the move raises the risk that Kenya will print extra cash ahead of the 2027 election, sparking inflation and economic collapse.

Gachagua made the remarks on Sunday, July 26, 2026, during a church service at St Teresa Catholic Church in Imenti Central, Meru County. He linked the claims to past events in Kenya and current troubles in Sudan.

He said the printing plant that once produced Kenya’s banknotes had closed under the previous administration. According to Gachagua, Ruto later bought it through intermediaries. He claimed Sudanese currency for the Rapid Support Forces now comes off presses in Kenya and travels north.

“Pale Sudan hawa watu, ya RSF wamepata pesa,” he said. “Ile kiwanda ya kutengeneza pesa… ilifungwa… William Ruto ameinunua through proxy. Pesa ya Sudan inakuwa printed in Kenya, inapelekwa Sudan.”

Gachagua then turned to Kenya’s own history. He recalled that in 1992, when President Daniel arap Moi faced political pressure, the authorities printed large volumes of cash for the campaign. The money supply expanded sharply. Inflation surged in the years that followed and damaged the economy.

“Now, what we are fearing… is that history might repeat itself,” Gachagua said. “In 1992, when Moi was in trouble, like now when Ruto is in trouble… he printed money for the campaign. And then there was inflation. We are suspecting that William Ruto has acquired [the printing company] so that he can print money for the coming election. And then there will be inflation and our economy will collapse.”

He called on the president to speak clearly.

“We want William Ruto to confirm whether he has bought [the company] and to assure the people of Kenya that he will not print currency for the purpose of the election,” he said.

Records show no purchase

Public records show the Nairobi plant operated as a joint venture between a British security printer and the Kenyan government, which held a 40 per cent stake. The firm suspended banknote production in January 2023 after the Central Bank of Kenya issued no new orders for at least a year.

The joint venture remained legally active at the time, and the company said it would explore other work, including possible export printing, if conditions improved.

Kenya later awarded a contract for new banknotes to a German firm. That decision itself drew criticism over procurement transparency. No official records or company filings confirm that President Ruto or his proxies purchased the suspended Nairobi operation or the parent British firm. The British company itself was taken over by a United States private-equity group in 2025.

Currency printing for other African states has long taken place outside the continent. No verified public evidence places Sudanese Rapid Support Forces notes on Kenyan presses.

Independent economic studies of the early 1990s confirm that broad money grew rapidly around the 1992 multiparty election. Inflation rose from around 20 per cent in 1991 to peaks near 45 per cent in 1993 before easing later in the decade. Analysts linked the surge partly to large credit expansion and campaign spending.

Gachagua’s warning comes as opposition figures increase scrutiny of government finances ahead of 2027. In the same Meru speech he also claimed that a Ksh3 billion bribe demand by senior officials caused the British Army Training Unit Kenya to cancel a planned exercise and move it elsewhere. He said the money was intended for Ruto’s campaign.