Kenya’s ousted Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday lashed out at his boss William Ruto as “vicious” and cruel, warning that his life could be in danger.
Gachagua was impeached by the Senate on five out of 11 charges levelled against him on Thursday, but a court order put his replacement process on hold.
The embattled 59-year-old known as “Riggy G” said his security had been withdrawn and his entire staff sent on compulsory leave.
“I am shocked by how vicious a man I helped to be president, believed in and was persecuted when I supported, could be so vicious against me,” he told reporters in the capital Nairobi.
He was speaking after being discharged from a hospital in the Nairobi suburb of Karen where he was being treated for severe chest pains.
“If anything happens to me or my family, President William Ruto must be held to account,” he said, claiming past attempts at his life through poisoning.
Gachagua fell ill on Thursday afternoon barely an hour before he was due to testify in the unprecedented two-day impeachment trial at the Senate.
The upper house proceeded to vote on his removal from his office after his lawyers unsuccessfully bid to postpone the session.
He was found guilty on charges including threatening judges and using ethnically divisive politics, but cleared of corruption and money-laundering.
‘Violation of court order’
In the fast-moving political drama, Ruto swiftly nominated Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki to replace Gachagua.
But a High Court in the capital suspended the appointment process within minutes of parliament voting overwhelmingly to approve Kindiki, a 52-year-old academic turned political heavyweight.
A three-judge bench is due to hear the case on Tuesday.
“The president in total violation of the court order viciously withdrew security around me,” Gachagua said, adding that he was effectively still deputy president.
“I don’t understand this level of viciousness to a man who has been your deputy and who helped you become president irrespective of what he has done,” he thundered.
“At his lowest moment in life when he is literally struggling to stay alive, you unleash such viciousness against him.”
Ruto has not yet given any public comment on the impeachment.
He called on Sunday for the defence of “national values and principles of governance every day” without making direct reference to his deputy who is accused of inciting ethnic divisions.
“Let us do our part to promote national cohesion and inclusion and to combat division, tribalism and exclusion,” Ruto said at an event to mark Mashujaa Day, a public holiday to honour those who contributed to the country’s independence struggle.
Gachagua, a powerful businessman from Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, weathered previous corruption scandals to become deputy leader as Ruto’s running mate in a closely fought election in August 2022.
He brought in votes from the Kikuyu in the key Mount Kenya region that helped Ruto secure victory.
A blunt leader with a gift of the gab, Gachagua is the first deputy president to be ousted in this manner since impeachment was introduced in Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution.
Analysts say his real crime may have been his unbridled ambition and refusal to fall in line behind his boss.