‘Zoea naibu raisi wako,’ Gachagua lashes out at state officers correcting him in public
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has broken his silence amid an emerging trend of state officials correcting his comments on the current state of affairs in the public.
Speaking during a thanksgiving service in Uasin Gishu on Sunday, October 9, the country's second in command maintained that Kenya is in a sorry state economically and government officials should not mislead Kenyans.
While defending his speech during the inauguration of President William Ruto at Kasarani stadium last month, Gachagua vowed to continue telling the public the truth about the status quo and challenged the officials to counter his claims with facts.
"Tunataka kuambia wale watu walikua kwa serikali ya Uhuru Kenyatta, tumekubali kukaa na nyinyi lakini mbadilike mkubali mambo ya ukweli. Sasa walikua wanataka nisimame pale niseme mambo ni mazuri? Wale ambo wako na shida na ukweli mzoee naibu raise wenu," he said.
"Sasa hawa wafanya kazi wa serikali wanataka kupingana na sisi. Sisi tukisema shirika limeanguka na kila mtu anajua limeanguka na tunatoa sababu wewe unasema hiyo sababu si ya ukweli na wewe ndio chairman si utuambie imeanguka kwa nini."
Loosely translated" "I am urging those leaders who served in President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration you better get used to your deputy president because I will always say the truth."
"Some of the leaders want to argue with us when we say that the institution is on its knees yet it is in the public domain. When we say so, you oppose that it has not, yet you are the chairman, then tell us why."
The remarks come days after Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph dismissed Gachagua's claims linking the airline's losses to 'state capture'.
“We have had discussions with Kenya Airways and they have the highest fares on the continent and their planes are always full but they make losses. We are trying to deal with that State capture so that we can bring down the cost of the operations of the airline so that they can make profits,” Gachagua said.
Joseph disputed the claims saying the contracts by the airline are purely commercial business arrangements meant to benefit the national carrier.
Gachagua’s recent comments about a forex crisis also led to a rebuttal from the Central Bank of Kenya.
During an interview on Citizen TV, Gachagua claimed that Kenya did not have a sufficient foreign exchange for oil imports, but CBK responded saying it does not control foreign exchange for commercial banks.
“Even yesterday, we had a crisis because at the Central Bank, we found there isn’t enough foreign currency to pay for oil imports,” Gachagua said.
But in a statement, the regulator said oil importers “obtain their requisite foreign exchange from the commercial banks and not from the CBK”.
