Mutuse under fire as Gachagua rips apart critical evidence

From left: Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his legal team, lawyers Paul Muite, Njiru Ndegwa and Elisha Ongoya during Senate impeachment trial on October 16, 2024. [Elvis Ogina,Standard] Kibwezi Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse struggled to defend his case against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua as the DP's lawyers tore into the evidence. In a surgical defence cross-examination, Mutuse was at pains to justify his reasons for seeking Gachagua's ouster. Defence lawyer Elisha Ongoya dismantled the MP's multiple allegations that the DP was corrupt, with Mutuse admitting to several inadequacies. Ongoya punctured a last-minute affidavit by Peterson Njomo Muchira alleging a secret arrangement between him and Gachagua to acquire the Olive Garden Hotel in Nairobi. "The deputy president persuaded me to enter into an informal secret arrangement... the terms of the secret arrangement were that the deputy president would buy the hotel from me by refunding the purchase price of Sh412 million," Mutuse read out Muchira's testimony. "Has the DP bought the hotel?" Ongoya asked as Mutuse attempted to evade the question. "You are the motion mover, you will not run away." Mutuse responded: "I would imagine so." He failed to state when the DP bought the hotel. "You want this Senate to impeach the DP based on your imagination," Ongoya would shoot back. Similarly, Mutuse could not explain his Sh5.2 billion valuation of the DP's property. Neither could he justify listing multiple companies belonging to or linked with Gachagua as part of the impeachment motion, which he struggled to tie to any wrongdoing. "What is wrong with Fortis done?" Ongoya asked about one of the companies listed as belonging to the DP. "We have no quarrel with Fortis," said Mutuse. "Then what is it doing in this motion? Is it decorative?" Ongoya shot back. The questioning was much the same about several other companies that the Defence hoped to show were irrelevant to the motion. The Kibwezi West MP would say that he listed the companies to show that they had ties to the DP and that they could be "potentially used to conduct corruption." But Mutuse would admit that the National Assembly had not presented evidence of corruption against such companies. He seemed more keen on the Kilifi-based Vipingo Beach Resort, which he had claimed was owned by Gachagua's sons, Keith and Kevin Rigathi. But Mutuse's evidence showed that the late former Governor Nderitu Gachagua's estate owned all the luxury resort's 10,000 shares. Keith and Kevin were only listed as directors. "What is wrong with the two young Kenyans managing the hotel?" posed Ongoya. "Nothing," responded Mutuse. Gachagua's lawyers also raised questions on the ambiguity of the "unidentified" proxies Mutuse alleged the DP used to acquire property fraudulently. Tied to the corruption allegations was evidence that a court of law had found the DP to be guilty of corruption-related crimes, which the defence ripped apart. Mutuse admitted that Gachagua had successfully appealed the decision, with the matter being settled through a consent that involved the Assets Recovery Agency.He was hard-pressed to state whether he had complained against the consent. But Mutuse would insist that Gachagua had threatened High Court judge Esther Maina, who decided the corruption case, by saying he would petition the Judicial Service Commission for her removal. In his motion, Mutuse testified Gachagua was yet to present such a petition, tracking back Wednesday. "I have since learnt that, indeed, the DP presented a petition," said the MP. The defence would also tear into claims of Gachagua undermining President William Ruto, highlighting a video clip in which the DP sought to engage persons affected by demolitions. "There is no law that prohibits the DP from calling for empathy," said Ongoya, arguing that seeking engagements was in the spirit of public participation. Mutuse said the president, Gachagua's supervisor, had complained to him about being undermined and did not present evidence to show that the people had. On the shareholding debate, Gachagua stuck to his argument that it was part of the Kenya Kwanza coalition agreement.

Mutuse under fire as Gachagua rips apart critical evidence

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Mutuse under fire as Gachagua rips apart critical evidence

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