Messy divorce: Billions at centre of Gachagua-Ruto fallout

President William Ruto and his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua. [File, Standard]

The political marriage between President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua is irretrievably broken. At the heart of the discordant union where the partners are in a bruising battle are billions of shillings and unrealized campaign pledges.

These, insiders say, have broken the friendship between two comrades that had come together, braced and braved raw state power to mount one of the most formidable campaigns ever witnessed in the country.

Two years and hundreds of millions in shillings later, Ruto and Gachagua cannot see eye to eye and are now engaged in an acrimonious divorce that is turning out to be noisy and messy.

Welcome to the world of President Ruto and his deputy whose friendship was so tight that it needed no Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

According to insiders, at the climax of UDA campaigns, Ruto who had been starved of cash by his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta, desperately needed money.

Well-wishers, who were willing to donate the millions needed to keep the campaign machine running, were in short supply. It was at this time that Ruto was also scouting for a running mate. He needed a fighter, a mobiliser and a man with deep pockets.

The former Mathira MP fitted the bill because he came from the right side of the mountain and was angry against the Uhuru regime enough to tackle the outgoing president head-on.

Insiders argue that Gachagua invested Sh2 billion, though other skeptics dismiss the figure as too high, to tilt the balance in his favour against favourite Kithure Kindiki who had just forfeited his chance of running for Tharaka Nithi governorship. Kindiki, a two-time senator, lacked the financial muscle Gachagua boasted of.

At the time, Gachagua sensationally claimed that the government coffers were empty, there were pending bills running into hundreds of millions owed to suppliers and staff who had used their resources during the campaigns.

After the money was released, however, the bills were never settled.

Other insiders insist that Gachagua gave no money and his cars were being fuelled by Ruto.

The money factor explains why the Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate opted for Gachagua, even after 26 MPs from Mt Kenya voted for Kindiki to be Ruto’s running mate but and who packed more punch in neutralizing Azimio la Umoja coalition’s choice Martha Karua.

The Standard has established that at the time, no MOU was signed although Gachagua expected to recoup his investment once his side sailed to State House.

Sources have disclosed that Gachagua’s intention to get a return for his investments is at the heart of his irreconcilable differences with his boss the President, who is said to have engineered his ouster, albeit silently.

“Upon ascending to the presidency, Gachagua wanted to bite more than he could chew. Critics now say he wanted to recover the money he had invested during the election without being content with his seat and this is at the heart of the fight with his boss,” a source intimated.

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, Ruto’s ally but Gachagua's harshest critic, claims the differences between the country’s top leaders was a result of misuse of allocation for a confidential vote in the office of the Deputy President.

Revenue sharing

“Towards the end of last year, it was discovered that a lot of money had gone into waste in one office on a vote that should not have been spent the manner it was spent and when the President put a stop to it, the fights began. That is when he (DP) started coaching people about one man one vote one shilling to be seen as a people’s champion of their interests, without telling them that you are fighting for resources and unfettered control of resources without any question even when you require accountability,” Ichung’wa said.

This, sources say, was in May this year when Gachagua described himself as the proponent of one man-one man-one-vote-one-shilling revenue sharing formula, a campaign that put him at loggerheads with Ruto’s allies.

“In matters of revenue sharing, and for the avoidance of doubt’ I am a believer and a proponent of one man-one-vote-one shilling, resources are about people,” Gachagua said.

He noted that the more people in an area, the more taxes they contribute, and therefore when distributing resources, they should get higher allocation.

“It cannot be that Ruiru constituency with a population of 800,000 people will get the same amount in Constituency Development Fund as a constituency with 14,000. It is not fair,” he said. The DP announced that Mt Kenya region should be pushing the agenda because it was about the fair distribution of resources.

Other friend-turn-foes, led by Mathira MP Eric Wamumbi, have claimed that Gachagua had been blackmailing the President and demanding Sh10 billion. This is the money he estimated he could have made from 2018 but was interrupted by Uhuru’s harassment.

He calculated that he had been making about Sh1.2 billion per year which multiplied by seven years translated to Sh8.4 billion. This figure was then rounded off to Sh10 billion.

“Honestly, what don’t we have as the people of Mt Kenya in this current government? What did we ask for on behalf of the people and we were not given? All this blackmail is about Sh10 billion for just one individual which was not available. It pains a lot,” Wamumbi said.

The MP further claimed that when Gachagua fell out with his boss, he wanted Mt Kenya leaders to blindly follow him to move out of government.

Ichung’wa also speculated that Gachagua’s endgame is to ultimately vie for the presidency in the 2027 elections and was hence focused on his interests instead of national issues.

“Gachagua has not said whether he is a candidate in 2027, though all indications show that he wants to run for president. I hear he wants to be friends with Kalonzo, Wajackoyah and such characters. He is at liberty to do that. But the focus we want him on is the delivery of our manifesto,” Ichung’wa to The Standard.

Another MP who requested anonymity claimed when things went haywire between Ruto and Gachagua, the President asked what his Deputy wanted to resign. That is when he reportedly demanded between Sh8 billion to Sh10 billion.“The justification of the money was that between 2018 to 2022 he did not do work with the government because the Uhuru government was on his neck. He also wanted to return the investment he made during the campaigns,” the MP said.

However, in a recent media interview with Mt Kenya East vernacular stations, Gachagua dismissed the claims of demanding money. He also reiterated that he has never worked with the government since he became the Deputy President.

“I have no interest in any benefits or any money. If it was the money I wanted, I would have been bought out by political opponents to part ways with President Ruto, but I am not greedy. I don’t have many needs. My children are grown up and my wife is a pastor. I do not put money first; Kenyans are my priority.” Gachagua maintained.

The MPs accused Gachagua of de-campaigning them and issuing threats that any MP who would not have crossed over to his side by December this year would be a candidate to political Siberia.

“He has called us names, he has intimidated and threatened us, he has gone ahead to field candidates in our constituencies and this is what informed us to do the necessary,” Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge said.

They accused Gachagua of calling them ‘tukunia, tugege, (home guards, nincompoops) because of refusing to cross over to his camp.

Ichung’wa says many Mt Kenya MPs disassociated from the DP due to intimidation and threats.