Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua claims coffee cartels poisoned his late brother and then Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua.
Speaking during an interview on Inooro TV on Sunday, June 12, the DP said that his brother was healthy until he suddenly felt sick and died on February 24, 2017.
He said that the family suspected foul play because the late governor’s health complications began after he waged a war against the cartel.
“Our family believes, and we know the late Nderitu Gachagua was poisoned by those people.
“And since then, a very healthy person started becoming sickly and we believe these people harmed him,” the deputy president said.
The former Nyeri governor died in 2017 while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
At the time, Rigathi said that “He has left us after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. It is very sad for the family but we have accepted God’s will.”
This revelation comes in the wake of a two-day coffee summit in Meru, where Gachagua expressed his concerns about the influence of these cartels on the coffee industry.
The DP has vowed to crush the cartels he said have infiltrated the sector and continued to reap benefits meant for the farmers.
During the meeting held in Meru which brought together leaders and other stakeholders from across the country, it was agreed that the Coffee Board of Kenya as proposed in the Coffee Bill 2023 be re-established.
Construction of coffee aggregation centres to improve the quality of coffee and empowerment of the Pest Control Board to regulate pesticides and fight coffee diseases are also part of the proposals which are to be subjected to a select team before being implemented in the next 90 days.
Highlighting how dangerous the cartels are, the DP stated that the governors were intentionally side-lined and instead, three cabinet secretaries-Mithika Linturi (Agriculture), Moses Kuria (Trade) and Simon Chelugui (Cooperatives) picked to lead the process.
“This war cannot be won by governors, this can only be won by DP and the president, these people; are dangerous and can even kill you,” he asserted.
“The President assigned me the task of leading these people because I have more resources including security since these are not good people.”
