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Gachagua: Raila would have jailed me


Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says he would be languishing in jail if Raila Odinga had won the 2022 presidential election.

Speaking in Mathira, Nyeri County, the DP recalled the challenges he encountered in the run-up to the August 2022 polls, claiming his opponents orchestrated a scheme to have him incarcerated.

Gachagua told a gathering that votes cast for the Kenya Kwanza alliance in the August General Election saved him from going to prison.

“If it were not for your votes, I would not have become the deputy president. I would have been in Kamiti (Prison) cooling my heels and drinking porridge, it would have been my fifth month as a convict. I am not sure if you would have paid me a visit,” he said.

Before the polls, Gachagua was dramatically arrested and charged with economic crimes.

He was accused of fraudulently receiving Sh7,330,011,265 through three bank accounts at Rafiki Micro-Finance Bank while knowing that the monies were proceeds of crime.

Three months after he assumed office, the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji applied to withdraw the Sh7.3 billion corruption charges against him.

Mr Haji applied to withdraw the charges under section 87A of the criminal procedure code saying investigations into the matter were not complete.

The investigating officer Obadiah Kuria told anti-corruption court magistrate Victor Wakumile that there were some areas in the case that were not adequately covered because he was not given sufficient time to complete the probe.

Gachagua had been charged with nine other people and companies and was released after depositing cash bail of Sh12 million.

The DP has consistently accused former president Uhuru Kenyatta of orchestrating his political woes and maintains those were trumped-up charges.

Gachagua also accused the police of not being professional and especially in the way they arrested him.

Incidentally, Gachagua worked as Mr Kenyatta’s personal assistant before the two fell out.

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