The story of Tony Gachoka reads like a movie of fast life, big parties and beautiful women laced with court battles that run almost half his life-time. But the once rouble rousing journalist and politician with high connections seems to have mellowed down — and is denying many controversies that have dogged him.
The straight-shooting Tony says that there is a witch-hunt that keeps dragging issues about him and his wife, kids and family property matters.
Then there is the case — Civil Suit No. 3590 of 1995 — over Sh45 million loan set to come to conclusion in the next two weeks.
Tony has denied claims that his mother sued him for using the title deed of the family’s home seating on 110 acres of land in Thika, Kiambu County, to secure a loan in 1993.
Tony was Raila Odinga’s former Chief of Protocol when he was Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition government, but now says he’s retired from politics but consults for a financial services firm.
His mother had entrusted him with family dealings after she was bedridden following a road accident at the time. This, the family says, was how he got hold of the title deed, and as one of the directors of the family company, used it to secure a Sh45 million loan.
The family’s properties were auctioned for Sh60 million when Tony defaulted on repayment. The mother, in court papers, insists that the value of the properties was double the auction price which was “suspiciously low.”
Adjusted for inflation, the Sh45 million translates to Sh300 million today.
The taps to the family fortune were unlocked when the family patriarch, Joseph Muiruri Gachoka sourced a Sh7,000 soft loan (without security or written agreement) from the late Njenga Karume in 1967 to found Central Kenya Agencies which dealt with wines and spirits distribution in vast parts of the then Central Province, with the Kenya Utalii Hotel being their first client.
By the time of his death in a road accident in 1988, the senior Gachoka’s estate encompassed residential flats, prime plots, multi-storey plazas, housing agencies, hotels, farms and shops.
But Tony, whose family later accused him of living a lavish lifestyle with his new-found loan fortune that included flying his friends to hotels even dollar millionaires were not accustomed to, has denied that he was sued by his mother, Margaret Njeri Gachoka, and that he never squandered his family’s wealth.
He told a local daily in 1999 after he was released from prison on presidential pardon over a contempt of court case: “People are uncomfortable with me because of breaking what the society expected of me. The idea of a rebel among their own ranks has been unnerving but I am unmoved.”
Since then, the dark cloud of a renegade, spoilt brat still hangs over his head, but he now says, it’s all water under the bridge.
“We, as a family, are actually the ones who sued. As a director of Central Kenya Limited, I didn’t have the authority to charge the family property for a loan, but the fraud happened from inside Trust Bank. If you look at the court documents, we sued in 1995, and the case has been through 23 years in the judiciary system, and only two weeks ago, we submitted our final submissions and we are now waiting for judgement,” he says.
Pulling out his phone, he called his mother and put her on speaker phone. She insisted that it’s the family suing Trust Bank, and she isn’t suing her son.
Tony says that the family property in question, the 110 acres of land and a house, are still in the family’s possession. “We live there. I go there nearly every week, and the case is about to be finalised, and we will be fully in control of our land.
My sisters and brother are all together with me in the case against Trust Bank. I don’t want to comment more on the case because it’s almost getting to the final hearing, and I pray that we win the case because an injustice was done to our family by those con men at Trust Bank.”
He claims he never mortgaged the family land for a Sh45 million loan in 1993 from Trust Bank. “My mum, brother and I, are directors at Central Kenya, how can I bypass all of them and secure a loan facility using the family land without their signatures? It’s those conmen at Trust Bank that got my family in this situation.”
He says contrary to common perception, he is very close to his siblings. He pulls out his phone and shows us messages he exchanges with his sisters and brother a few hours ago.
“You see, my bother actually tells me to be strong as the media bashes me, because we are a family, and because they know the truth.”
A dropout of Oxford Business College in the United Kingdom, his sister and renowned radio personality Ciku Muiruri had in an earlier interview with True Love magazine said her life took a downward turn when her father died.
“Those are old things. My relationship with my siblings 20 years ago? Right now, we are as a close as any family can be. There is no bad blood between me and any of my siblings.”
Responding to allegations of spousal abuse, Tony, who lives in a penthouse in Valley Arcade, says he is still with his wife, although she has her own house.
“I have never laid a finger on her. We are still a family, we go for holidays together, I have a house in Mombasa, and another in South Africa and we love each other dearly.”
On claims of dragging home women of the night to their marital bed, Tony clarifies that “I have never brought any woman to my house, you can ask my children, they are here in the house,” he says, pointing to his son Joe who was in the house with two friends. His daughter had already slept. “Do my children look like they lack anything? I know who is pushing this things to be written in the media, and I will respond at the appropriate time.”
His son, Joe, concurs with his father.
“Everything is cool man, there is no problem, I can come visit my father anytime I wish, and I am out, doing my own things.”
Tony says all his children are adults, and he cannot take care of them for life.
“My daughter is 24 years, she is with her boyfriend leading their own lives; my son Jose is 21 years, he is not a minor, and my last born son is 16 years old and is in school in South Africa. They are all adults, so I wonder where the issue that I don’t pay fees come from. They lead their own lives.”
The house has bright light fixtures, an open kitchen with red kitchen fittings.
“This is called an island cooker,” he says, pointing to the oven and cooker in the middle of the kitchen. Ugali, two huge pieces of fish and sukuma wiki are on the kitchen counter in plastic dishes.
“I am a part-owner of this place, so I have six private parking spaces,” he says. The living room is empty, save for two sofas and a glass table.
“The other side, there are three bedrooms, and those are my living quarters. I entertain friends on this side,” he says, unlocking his living quarters with a thumb print security system.