Gachagua must accept ground has shifted, move on – Hassan Omar

By Peter Ochieng

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) interim party Secretary General Hassan Omar, has urged impeached deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to move on.

Speaking in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County on Monday, Omar said Gachagua must move on after the Senate on Thursday last week upheld his impeachment.

“Gachagua must now accept that the ground has shifted and move on,” said the former Mombasa Senator.

Shortly after his removal from office, President William Ruto nominated interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki as his replacement.

According to Omar, they will soon hold a meeting to remove Gachagua as UDA deputy party leader, adding that by virtue of his nomination, Kindiki is now UDA’s second in command.

“We already recognize Kindiki as our deputy president and also deputy party leader but we will officially install him soon.”

The impeached DP is however not out of office, after Justice Chacha Mwita on Friday suspended his impeachment and appointment of his successor.

The matter will be dealt with in court on Thursday this week.

On Sunday, speaking after leaving Karen Hospital where he had been admitted since last Thursday, Gachagua claimed there were plots to assassinate him.

“On August 30, in Kisumu, undercover security agents entered my room and bugged it and one of them tried to poison my food, but we detected it and were able to escape the scheme. I was supposed to be killed by food poisoning.”

“On September 3, another team from the National Intelligence Service came to Nyeri and tried to poison food that was meant for me and the Kikuyu council of elders,” he added.

He said despite being Kenya’s Deputy President by virtue of the court order, he has no security, accusing president William Ruto of turning against him.

“It is unfortunate that my brother ordered the withdrawal of my security from the hospital. I have been here without a single officer. He ordered the withdrawal of security guards in my rural home in Nyeri, my home here in Karen.”

“I did not know that President William Ruto could be that vicious. I am shocked at how vicious a man I helped to be President, a man that I believed in and was persecuted while supporting, could be so vicious against me when I am literally fighting for my life in the hospital. How cruel can a man be?”