NAIROBI, Kenya July 22 – Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has revealed that a private four-hour meeting with President William Ruto at State House convinced him that the President had been “overrated.”
Gachagua said the meeting took place before the two fell out politically.
He claimed he used the opportunity to advise Ruto against what he described as the betrayal of the Mt Kenya region, warning that it would come at a heavy political cost.
“William Ruto today, if you ask him, before we parted I had a very long sitting with him for four hours outside State House. We sat, the two of us. And I was convinced that he was overrated. When I listened to him, I believed he was overrated,” Gachagua said during an interview with KTN.
According to Gachagua, he did not simply disagree with the President but also tried to steer him away from decisions he believed would damage his relationship with Mt Kenya voters.
The former Deputy President said he reminded Ruto that the region had played a decisive role in his election victory and urged him not to take that support for granted.
“I did give him political advice because he had started betraying the Mountain, deceiving the Mountain and persecuting the Mountain. I did advise him as his deputy,” he said.
Gachagua claimed he warned the President that the people of Mt Kenya strongly reject leaders they believe have betrayed them.
“I told him, ‘Mr President, I am your advisor. I helped you to be President… The people of the Mountain hate betrayal and hate deception. If you betray the people of the Mountain, they will abandon you and they will fight you. Please don’t.'”
Gachagua also dismissed President Ruto’s recent assertion that he is a master of politics.
Responding to Ruto’s “mafundi wa siasa” remarks, the former Deputy President said he viewed himself and his political allies as the architects of the political contest.
“I have heard President William Ruto say he is a fundi wa siasa. Sisi ni ma-engineer, and we shall allocate him work as a fundi. Engineers design and supervise construction. Yeye ni mtu ya kufanya,” Gachagua said.
