Kenya: Impeached DP Gachagua alleges attempts on his life, calls Ruto “vicious”

In his first public statement since senate voted his impeachment, Kenya’s Rigathi Gachagua has recounted in length "one year of continual persecution and stress" he allegedly suffered at the hands of his boss president William Ruto.

Shortly after being discharged from Karen Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya's former Deputy President stated that his security detail was withdrawn while he was "fighting for his life."

“I want Kenyans to know that as I go home, I have no security. If anything happens to me or my family, President Ruto must be held accountable,” he said.

"The president in total violation of the court order viciously withdrew security around me."

Kenya’s High Court has issued a temporary order stopping the replacement of deputy president Rigathi Gachagua.

READ ALSO: Mixed reactions among Kenyans following the impeachment of the deputy president

For the last one year, it has been very difficult for me but I'm a very enduring man and what happened on Thursday (Oct.17) [Editor'sNote: impeachment vote] is a culmination of continual persecution and stress" for a year.

"President William Ruto wanted me to take the route president Daniel Ramoi took Kenneth Matiba. He pushed Matiba up to getting a stroke and eventually dying," he said.

Alleged attempt on his life

“On August 30, in Kisumu, undercover security agents entered my room and bugged it and one of them tried to poison my food, but we detected it and were able to escape the scheme. I was supposed to be killed by food poisoning,“ Gachagua stated.

"On September 3, another team from the National Intelligence Service came to Nyeri and tried to poison food that was meant for me and the Kikuyu council of elders.

Gachagua was discharged from hospital Sunday (Oct. 20) after being hospitalized for a "life-threatening health condition".

Gachagua called the 11 counts levelled against him in the impeachment trial "nothing but malice and fiction."

"It was a political game by the president to get rid of me."

"I don't think the president had any intention of working with me. I think he just needed me to help him win the election because of my mobilization capacity and the faith the Mount Kenya region have in me," he claimed.

Gachagua feels his "only crime" was telling "the truth" as the only elected official in the cabinet of president Ruto who could.

The president has yet to comment on the accusations.