In a tight weekend schedule, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua travelled from Nairobi to Nyandarua to attend a church service just hours after attending a night event in the city.
Gachagua on Sunday, July 28, 2024, attended a church service in St Stephen Catholic Parish at Karoroha in Kinangop, Nyandarua County.
“I have joined the faithful of St. Stephen Catholic Parish at Karoroha in Kinangop, Nyandarua County, for Holy Mass,” Gachagua said in a statement.
The deputy president was accompanied by Kiambu senator Karungo Thang’wa and Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara and was received by Nyandarua governor Kiarie Badilisha, deputy governor Mathara Mwangi, Nyandarua senator Methu Muhia and Nyandarua county majority leader Mwangi Nyagah.
Gachagua attacks
The service comes hot on the heels of attacks on Gachagua from various quarters with the latest being Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa.
In a public address attended by National Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula, Barasa said Gachagua was the reason protesters stormed the parliament building on June 25, 2024.
“The talks about shares (by DP Gachagua) and inflammatory remarks about the one man, one shilling one vote which proposes that development should follow population are what infuriated the Gen Zs to storm parliament looking for us,” Barasa said.
The remarks came shortly after the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) boss Francis Atwoli proposed that the deputy president should be appointed after elections are completed.
The renowned trade unionist said electing the DP together with the Head of State has always made them feel like they are the president’s equals, at some point.
“We should relook at the duties and responsibilities and the appointment of the Vice President. Hii ya kuchaguliwa pamoja na Vice President si vizuri, because a Vice President feels as if he is also a president,” Atwoli noted.
Atwoli also noted that the deputy president could be elected separately on the ballot to ensure their loyalty remains to the president.
“We must rethink, either he is appointed by the sitting president so that his loyalty is 100 per cent with that president, or be elected separately after the presidential election,” Atwoli said.
This comes after the recent cabinet changes resulted in the firing of Mt Kenya leaders previously linked to Gachagua’s influence.
But Gachagua came out to allay fears that the Mt Kenya region had lost a majority of their leaders in the dissolution of cabinet.
“I have seen many people commenting about gains and losses. Which region got what, which one lost, which one didn’t, who is strong, who is not. I think the whole thing is a win for Kenya,” Gachagua said on July 26, 2024.
