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Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau is among the three individuals who will present evidence against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at the Senate when debate on the impeachment motion starts tomorrow.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and former KEMSA acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Andrew Mulwa are the accusers of the embattled DP.

Gachagua and his team of lawyers will also be forced to defend his late brother Nderitu Gachagua’s Will which has come under scrutiny during the ongoing impeachment proceedings.

Nderitu, who was worth more than Sh2 billion at the time of his death had directed in his Will that all his properties save for matrimonial homes be sold and the proceeds shared between 24 beneficiaries including his wives, children, brothers, sisters, mother and the executors of his Will.

“I direct that if any of the above listed beneficiaries raises any challenge to the stated mode of distribution, he or she shall be disqualified automatically from inheriting any part of my estate,” ordered Nderitu in his Will who died on February 24, 2017 at a London hospital.

Wanjau, has in her affidavit accused Gachagua of opposing the evacuation of Nairobi residents living within 30 meters of the Nairobi River.

Cabinet decision

Wanjau admitted that Gachagua opposed a Cabinet decision publicly despite the fact he sits in it and did not question the matter when it was approved.

She says it is against the oath of office which the DP took to divulge or oppose Cabinet decisions in public.

It will be interesting to see how Gachagua’s defence team handles Wanjau’s evidence considering she herself will be revealing cabinet matters which she is supposed to safeguard.

“I have knowledge of the issues raised in ground 2 and 10 of the application,’’ Wanjau states in her sworn affidavit.

She accuses Gachagua of opposing the Cabinet-approved evacuation of residents living within 30 meters of the Nairobi River thus undermining government policy and collective Cabinet responsibility.

She states that on April 12, the Cabinet adopted a policy on Nairobi Rivers Regeneration and Flood Mitigation and circulated it to relevant Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and government agencies including the office of the DP for implementation.

Wanjau says the resolutions directed the immediate mapping of the Nairobi Rivers corridor and establishment of a 30-meter statutory riparian boundary as well as the 60-meter panning corridor on both sides of the rivers.

“The mapping was to be done by the Ministry of Lands, Public Works and Urban Development, the county government of Nairobi and the Water Resources Authority,’’ reads the affidavit.

The role of the three entities was to approve the removal of existing structures/ buildings along the 30-metre riparian zone within the identified flood hotspots from May.

According to Wanjau, this included an approved plan for shifting people from the danger zones along Mathare, Nairobi and Ngong’ Rivers and an approved cash transfer to facilitate alternative accommodation for those affected.

 Sakaja, who has had run-ins with the DP in the past, has fingered him over the Wakulima Market traders’ relocation. Gachagua differed with the governor over the forceful relocation which the latter is using to accuse the DP of undermining devolution.

Matatu operators

Earlier, Gachagua accused Sakaja of  fighting matatu operators after they were ordered out of the CBD. The PSV operators had resisted the move out of the central business district accusing the county government of

In defence, the DP says that in its manifesto, the Kenya Kwanza administration vowed never to evict or relocate people against their wishes and that he was enforcing them by backing the traders.

Mulwa who has since left KEMSA accuses the DP of trying to coerce the management to award a Sh3.7 billion tender to supply mosquito nets to a company associated with his son.

Mulwa, in a sworn affidavit to Parliament accuses Gachagua and his last-born son Keith Rigathi of interference in the issuance of the Sh3.7 billion hospital nets tender. He claims that the DP and his son interfered to push for the tender to go to Shobikaa Impex Private Limited.

Mulwa who was appointed the Kemsa boss in an acting capacity in 2023 after a wave of corruption scandals roiled the agency, says he is competent enough to give evidence.

As the Kemsa boss he could confirm that the DP allegedly influenced the award of the Sh3.7 billion Malaria nets tender.

Mulwa says the DP called him around July 11, 2023, and instructed him to hand over to his agent the original bid bond submitted by a company for the tender.

“As a junior official, there was nothing I could do against a deputy president,’’ Mulwa says in his sworn affidavit.

Intimidating public officers

To this end, Mulwa accuses Gachagua of harassing and intimidating public officers contrary to Section 34 of the Leadership and Integrity Act.

In his response to claims that he disinherited his brother’s family, Gachagua said that some of the properties he is accused of acquiring fraudulently from his brother’s family had long been sold to third parties as per his late brother’s wishes and the proceeds distributed among his beneficiaries.

Gachagua claimed that one of the properties, Olive Gardens Hotel and Queens Gate Serviced Apartments had since been sold.

He also said that his brother’s beneficiaries decided on their own not to sell Langata View Apartments but divide the units among themselves.

He further argued that he alongside the other executioners of his late brother’s Will decided to transfer the land which the luxury Vipingo Beach Resort was built on plus its assets to a third company Kuruwitu Properties Ltd for the purpose of selling it.

“The joint Will executors caused the two properties to be transferred to a special purpose vehicle where they still remain,” Gachagua told MPs.

But his accusers maintain that Nderitu’s Will was explicit that all his eight properties be sold in the state they were at the time of his death and the proceeds distributed among his beneficiaries. The mover of the motion, Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse, in his sworn affidavit claims that he has full knowledge of how the DP allegedly amassed wealth worth billions of shillings in the last two years he has been in office.

“In the last two years, the DP has inexplicably amassed a huge property portfolio estimated at Sh5.2 Billion, mainly through corruption and money laundering,’’ reads the affidavit.

But in a rebuttal, Gachagua states that much of the properties Mutuse questioned ownership belonged to his late brother as supported by the Will which he (DP) was the executor together with two others.

“I believe that Gachagua’s inciting and demeaning public statements and conduct are impeachable offences. They undermine devolution, the functional and institutional integrity of the county government and unjustifiably denigrate and ridicule the leadership of county governments,’’ Sakaja’s affidavit reads in part.

Sakaja refers to Article 10(2)(a) of the Constitution which states that devolution is a fundamental national value and principle of governance.

The Nairobi Governor narrates that on September 20, Gachagua ‘’in reckless disregard of the high calling and dignified status of the office of the DP, unlawfully interfered with the running of the county by holding a rally and inciting citizens against lawful directives in the planning and management of the markets”.