Kenya’s Deputy President, H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, has made serious allegations against top security officials, accusing them of orchestrating attempts on his life and unleashing violence against him, his family and supporters.
In the letter dated April 15, 2025, addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Douglas Kanja Kirocho and copied to President William Ruto, international human rights bodies and key diplomatic missions, Gachagua says the threats he faces are not only credible but well-coordinated and deliberately ignored by the very institutions mandated to protect him.
“You are clearly perpetuating crime and violence,” Gachagua wrote in reference to the IG, warning that continued silence and inaction could plunge Kenya into “political instability and breakdown of law and order.”
Gachagua lists a series of disturbing incidents allegedly aimed at ending his life. These include attacks at church services, prayer rallies, and public gatherings — many of which he claims were facilitated or executed by uniformed and non-uniformed police officers working with criminal gangs.
“On 28th December, 2024 in Shamata, Nyandarua County, an inspector of police flanked by organized criminal gangs threw teargas canister at me to scatter my supporters and create a fertile avenue to attack me with assassination intent,” he stated.
In another event on January 18, 2025, during a prayer rally in Nyeri Town, Gachagua says an attack gang hijacked the meeting while his spouse, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, was preaching. He claims his motorcade was later trailed and his staff harassed in Naivasha in a separate incident on March 29, 2025.
“Not a single police officer responded despite the police station being a few meters from the church,” he wrote, describing an April 6, 2025 church service in Kasarani that was violently disrupted by machete-wielding gangs.
He also claims that officers from the National Intelligence Service have been trailing him and his family in unmarked vehicles across counties, including a specific case on December 19, 2024, when an NIS agent allegedly followed him for over 150 kilometers.
“This is an affront to the right to privacy,” he charged, linking the surveillance to wider plans coordinated with criminal networks.
Gachagua warns that if the threats against him are not addressed, Kenya risks a repeat of the post-election violence seen in 2007, and he places the responsibility squarely on the Inspector General and security agencies.
“Be reminded that in the run-up to the 2007 General Elections in Kenya, similar patterns of incidents… exposed Kenya into international shame,” he wrote. “Your one-time holder of the office you do, found his way to the International Criminal Court – ICC for crimes against humanity.”
He demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of all those involved in the attacks, provision of personal security and protection at public events, an end to the trailing of his family, and security for his properties. Gachagua also urges the police to desist from interfering in peaceful gatherings organized by citizens.
“Take firm notice that further violence and assassination attempts be meted on me whatsoever; you will be personally responsible to the people of the Republic of Kenya and to the entire world,” he warned.
