DP Gachagua finally meets King Charles, Queen Camilla in Mombasa

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Thursday, November 2, 2023, met Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla after concluding his one-week official trip abroad.

The country’s second-in-command joined President William Ruto and other senior government officials to welcome the Royal couple as they arrived at Mtongwe Naval Base in Mombasa on Thursday afternoon.

The President was heard, in a live video, introducing Gachagua to the King “This is my deputy” before they shook hands.

The monarchs are in Mombasa to witness Kenyan Marines, trained by the Royal Marines, demonstrating a covert beach landing, showing defence collaboration in action.

The British royal will also meet faith leaders from diverse communities to hear how they are working together to promote harmony amongst the coastal city’s population.

Their Majesties arrived in the country on Monday night for a four-day State visit. They spent the first two days of their trip in Nairobi before heading to the coast region today.

In Nairobi, they held a series of meetings with President Ruto, First Lady Rachel Ruto and leaders from several institutions including the United Nations (UN).

Notably, the DP was conspicuously absent during the welcoming ceremony of the Royal couple at State House Nairobi on Tuesday morning and several events that followed thereafter including a State banquet for the visiting royals.

The DP’s absence sparked mixed reactions on social media as Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi took a leading role in taking the King and his wife around the city in the company of President Ruto.

Gachagua left the country last Monday to attend the Global Gateway Forum in Belgium. He later left for Germany where he held several meetings with coffee buyers and marketers. He returned home on Tuesday night.

Yesterday, Mudavadi joined the King and the Queen at a visit to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in Kariokor.

The couple laid a wreath at the cemetery in honour of Kenyans who fought alongside the British in the First and Second World Wars.

The cemetery is situated in an area associated with the Carrier Corps of World War I hence the Kenyan name ‘Kariokor’.

Most of the Kariokor casualties were not individually commemorated, and their contribution was largely overlooked.

At Kariokor, the King presented four Mau Mau veterans with replacement campaign medals, as many veterans who fought in World War II alongside the British disposed of their medals.

One of the veterans who met the King was Corporal Samwel Nthigai Mburia, who is 117 years old. The others were Private John Kavai, Private Kefa Chagira and Private Ezekiel Nyanjom Anyange.

The visit to Kariokor cemetery came a day after the monarch expressed “greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the violence of the colonial era.

Gachagua is among leaders from Mount Kenya who have been on the frontline in calling out the British for the atrocities committed in the country against Mau Mau and other freedom fighters during the colonial period.