Gachagua, on Sunday, October 20, 2024, alleged that undercover security agents attempted to poison his food in two separate incidents in Kisumu and Nyeri counties in August and September of this year.
In a summons to Gachagua dated October 21, the DCI termed the allegations serious and directed him to appear before the detectives on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, to record a formal statement to enable investigations into the matter.
'These are serious allegations emanating from a person of your stature and cannot be taken lightly. In light of the seriousness of this matter, we kindly request your presence on October 22, 2024, at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Headquarters, Mazingira Complex-Kiambu Road, to formally record your statement to enable prompt and thorough investigations into the matter,' the summons read in part.
'We understand the sensitivity of the allegations and assure you that this matter will be handled with the seriousness it deserves. Your statement is a crucial component of our investigation.'
Gachagua had claimed that it was after the two failed assassination attempts that an impeachment plot was hatched against him.
"On August 30, undercover security agents entered my room in Kisumu, bugged it, and one of them tried to poison my food, but we were able to detect the scheme. I was supposed to be killed through food poisoning. On September 3 in Nyeri, another team from the National Intelligence Service came and tried to poison food that was meant for me and the Kikuyu Council of Elders," Gachagua said.
The impeached Deputy President spoke after being discharged from Karen Hospital in Nairobi, where he had been hospitalized with chest pains as the Senate debated his impeachment motion last Thursday.
In yet another political divorce in Kenya, Gachagua accused President William Ruto of being vicious and orchestrating the impeachment against him.
He told the press that the Head of State had illegally ordered the withdrawal of his security and staff despite the High Court suspending the Senate's resolutions to uphold his impeachment by the National Assembly.
"I don't understand this level of viciousness toward a man who has been your deputy, a man who helped you become president. Irrespective of what he has done, at his lowest moment in life, when he is literally struggling to stay alive, you unleash such viciousness against him. I bear no grudges against anybody, but I had not seen this in President William Ruto. The man I am seeing now is not the one I thought I knew," he said, citing constant persecution over the past year and a surprisingly rushed effort to remove him from office.
Gachagua said he doesn't feel safe, and if anything happens to him, President Ruto should be held accountable.
"Do whatever you want, but please, Mr. President, I beg you, don't kill us. Don't kill my children. You have caused me enough pain over the past year. Please, leave me alone," he added.
"I want the people of Kenya to know that as I go home today, I have no security. It is good that they know that if anything happens to me or my family, President Ruto must be held accountable."
Gachagua was impeached over allegations of violating the constitution by undermining national unity through ethnic utterances and gross misconduct.
The bitter fallout between Gachagua and Ruto mirrors the current Head of State's fallout with former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018, when he served as Deputy President in the former Jubilee Party administration.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
