Matende David has revealed the true character of Rigathi Gachagua.The former administrator under Moi Government has been named Ruto’s running mate.
Here is the testimony:
“I remember Rigathi Gachagua from our university days in the late 80s. Like his boss, William Ruto, Gachagua was the quintessential opportunist. That was at the height of political repression by the government of Daniel Moi.
Student activism at the University of Nairobi had been suppressed and the student organisation, Sonu, banned. Our leader, Wafula Buke, was languishing in jail while other leaders such as Miguna Miguna had been exiled. To divide the students, the government and the university administration under Prof Philip Mbithi had encouraged the formation of district-based student organisations. The leaders of these organisations would frequently troop to.State House for handouts. Among them was a student of Botany called William Ruto and another one studying literature and political science called Rigathi Gachagua.
It was through our common study of literature that I got to know Gachagua. Somehow, he was elected chairman of the Literature Students Association. He liked to dress in loud shirts and expensive pointed leather shoes. I also noticed that campus ” slay queens” of that time liked to hang around him . I soon realized why. The chap was loaded. Apart from the money he received from Moi as a result of being one of the leading lights of the Nyeri University Students Association, he got more as chair of Literature Students Association. I always wondered how he got elected to the position since he wasn’t a particularly good student of letters. I later learnt that he had been lifted to the position by the Special Branch in collaboration with the university leadership. He had a brief to spy on radical literature students and lecturers. It should be recalled that the department of literature had earlier been home to a leading critic of both the Kenyatta and Moi governments, Prof Ngugi wa Thiong’o, among others .Wa Thiong”o was detained and later exiled. The government was determined to destroy his legacy at the department and thus the recruitment of student spies such as Gachagua to report on the activities and writings of radicals on the second floor of Education Building, where the literature department was domiciled. He didn’t have to do much as most radical lecturers had already fled the country. As both chair of the association of literature students and one of the leaders of students from Nyeri, Gachagua was controversial . One time, a group of students , carrying crude weapons, staged a manhunt for him. Apparently, during one of his frequent trips to his paymasters, he had.been given money to distribute to students. A smart guy, he pocketed the money, which must have been a lot. I don’t remember how it ended, but Gachagua continued to “eat ” life in campus until he graduated and was hired as district officer in the Nyayo government. His exploits as DO have been documented. I was to meet him many years after university. He was now PA to Unuru Kenyatta, who was an MP at the time. He was excited when I reminded him of the campus times. He gave me his card and told me to call him . I didn’t. I don’t know what would have happened had I called. Of course I had no idea that one day, Rigathi Gachagua would be a running mate on a serious presidential ticket”
