President William Ruto has issued a warning to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accusing him of disinheriting his late brother’s family.
Speaking on Sunday, March 29, Ruto dismissed ongoing political attacks against him, saying he would ensure that property taken from Gachagua’s late brother’s family is returned.
“I am telling them to continue with the insults, but the property of widows and orphans – you will return it. There is no way you will escape that. That hotel in Nairobi, return it; that house in Kilifi, return it,” he said.
Ruto noted that while he can handle criticism directed at him, those unable to defend themselves must be protected and supported.
“Keep insulting me, I am a man, and I can defend myself. But widows and orphans cannot defend themselves. I will defend them; even before God, we will defend them,” he added.
This comes days after Gachagua responded to the allegations
Speaking during a podcast interview on Friday, March 27, he dismissed a letter penned by his niece to Ruto, asking him to help them get justice and protect them from a powerful relative.
Gachagua accused Ruto of approaching his family members to have them write a letter to discredit his integrity as a leader.
He claimed that the move was the President’s last resort after he failed to use the security organs to arrest him on fictitious charges.
“Yesterday, Wamumbi took them to State House, where they were told to sign some letters which are now circulating. I don’t care; this is hot air and politics, and we will dismantle it,” he reiterated.
Gachagua alleged that his nephew and nieces were offered lucrative incentives to perpetrate foul play in their late father’s succession.
“I hear one of my nieces has been promised a board position so that they can complain about me, and another was promised a business opportunity. They have also been promised money, which is okay because I do not have money to give them,” he added.
Gachagua alleged that some of his members had been hoodwinked into believing that they could receive more from the deceased if they revived the succession case.
He warned Ruto to stay away from his family and intimated that the Gachaguas would formally respond to him through their lawyer.
He denied claims that he forged Nderitu’s will, and questioned why his brother’s kin were claiming injustice eight years after the matter was addressed in court.
“We went to court in 2018, and all of us told the judge that we had agreed with the content of the Will. The courts adopted the will and allowed the executors to go ahead and execute the Will,” he stated.
Gachagua revealed that his brother ensured that everybody he cared about benefited in the Will, stating that he had at least 21 beneficiaries.
He disclosed that he was among three executors appointed by the former Governor to execute the Will, which was detailed to the latter.
Gachagua revealed that his brother had instructed that his property be sold and the proceeds be used to pay off his debts and be shared among his loved ones, including two women with whom he sired children outside of wedlock.
“The late Gachagua gave his property to everybody; his two wives, his four children, and he had other women in his life whom he included in the will – two of them and their children,” he disclosed.
Gachagua told his brother’s children who wrote the letter addressed to Ruto that they were a little too late, adding that the final decision was with the court.
“They should shut up and shut up forever. If they want to, they can go back to court, but the window for appeal is over,” he reiterated.
He further warned them that Ruto was only using them politically and alleged that he would soon dump them as he had done to him.
