The Kenya Kwanza Alliance campaigns in Mt Kenya are facing headwinds over emerging revelations that United Democratic Alliance presidential running mate Rigathi Gachagua brutalised Kikuyus during Daniel Arap Moi’s regime when he served as Special District Officer. Gachagua also organised policemen disguised as goons to raid politician Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba’s home in 1990s. Matiba was a revered figure in Mt Kenya for leading the crusade for multiparty democracy.
Rigathi Gachagua
The former Kiharu MP had teamed up with former Starehe MP Charles Rubia (also deceased), Jaramogi Odinga Oginga and Raila Odinga, among other heroes, in pushing the dictatorial Moi regime to repeal Section 2A of the constitution that outlawed multiparty politics in Kenya. The firebrand politician, together with Rubia and Raila, was detained in July 1990 for agitating for Kenya’s return to multiparty politics. While in detention he suffered a stroke that nearly proved fatal had it not been for his eventual release and medical care in London. And now evidence is emerging that while serving as a Special District Officer, on June 13 1990, Gachagua was in a gang of men dressed in civilian clothes but addressing each other by military ranks that raided Matiba’s home.
Late Daniel Moi
The gang raided Matiba’s home in Limuru just next the Limuru–Kiambaa border. During the raid, the goons reigned terror upon late Matiba’s family, brutally attacking his wife Edith, daughter Julie and the housemaid who all sustained serious injuries. The victims were admitted to Nairobi Hospital in critical condition with Matiba’s wife admitted in ICU after her head was smashed by an axe by the goons. Speaking to a local daily in 2013, Edith revealed how they were harassed by police on a night when they raided their Limuru home. “About 10 men came into the room. They asked: ‘Where is Mr Matiba?’ I told them he had gone to Mombasa. So they looked under the bed, and everywhere.
Late Kenneth Matiba
“The man crossed the room and pulled the drawer, knife in hand. His accomplice (Gachagua) was standing next to me and he had a small axe. He hit me here (her skull). The blood shot out,” she said. Edith added that there was another attempt on Matiba’s life when somebody was told to plant a bomb under his car but the person refused. The raid at Matiba’s home was a desperate attempt by the despotic Moi government to silence Matiba who was then calling for democracy, good governance, human rights and multiparty-ism. Matiba hailed from Kiharu constituency in Murang’a county.
Late Charles Rubia
During the 1992 elections, Moi again used Gachagua who was the Limuru district officer to restrain Matiba, Mwai Kibaki, Paul Muite, Njehu Gatabaki and George Nyanja aka General Kaiyaba from holding political rallies in Kiambu, Kiambaa and Githunguri constituencies. Kibaki was also attacked by the dreaded YK92 goons while campaigning in the Rift Valley and escaped on foot as the gang set his Mercedes Benz ablaze. Indeed, while Raila, Matiba, Anyang Nyong’o, Paul Muite, Wangari Maathai, Kiraitu Murungi, James Orengo, George Anyona and Njehu Gatabaki, among others were fighting for the new constitutional dispensation and multipartism, Ruto and Gachagua were defending Moi and attacking the heroes of second liberation.
Paul Muite
Moi also promoted Gachagua from DO to a DO1 and transferred him to Molo division in the then Nakuru district. According to the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission’s report, witnesses who appeared before it implicated Gachagua in arming of local youth to conduct acts of violence against the then Ford Asili leader Matiba’s sympathisers living in and around the Molo settlement area during the 1992 elections. The witnesses testified that the violence visited on Matiba’s supporters in Molo was calculated to induce widespread intimidation and genuine fear for livelihood for those targeted and their families. The targets were mainly vocal opponents to the Kanu regime of Moi. The witnesses said chiefs had been provided with lists of multi-party agitators who supported either Matiba or Kibaki’s Democratic Party.
Anyang Nyong’o
Special units headed by DOs and provincial commissioners were directed to ensure supporters of either party were unable to assemble or recruit new members through strong arm tactics. At the time, Matiba and Kibaki had been placed under surveillance by the state machinery. Molo settlement area fell under the jurisdiction of Gachagua as Special District Officer. According to TJRC, several residents and former recruits testified that Gachagua was instrumental in the organisation and deployment of the militia groups into the Molo settlement area to conduct reprisals against Ford-Asili activities. One militia member testified that Gachagua participated in the torture of young men who had been accused of discussing anti-Moi sentiments.
Kiraitu Murungi
The victims would be kidnapped from a local hall or public square or waylaid on their way home and driven to the district officer’s office in Molo where they would be stripped naked. They would be tortured by beating and starvation before being forced to write a false confession which would be filed for transmission up the command chain. After signing the confession, the victim would be taken back home and left in a public place in the night to be discovered by local villagers as a warning. According to TJRC, older men who were identified as organisers for Matiba were frequently targeted through their wives. Several witnesses testified that Gachagua was present during these assaults and participated in at least 20 with the victims’ ages ranging from 11 years to 50 years.
Wangari Mathaai
The UDA president running mate also finds himself entangled in a case where a 21-year-old Kenya Medical Training College student in Thika accused him of raping her. Caro Ngui has filed a lawsuit against Gachagua at Milimani Law Courts crying out for justice. She says she got to know Gachagua through a friend who introduced her to him. She wanted the MP to help her clear fee. Last week the High Court ordered Gachagua to forfeit Sh202 million to the state which he acquired fraudulently from government agencies through corrupt deals. This is after the legislator failed to prove to the court how he obtained the money, after it was wired from different government agencies to Rafiki Micro Finance, owned by the legislator. The legislastor was also adversely mentioned in the inquest into the death of former Nyeri governor Wahome Gakuru. Witnesses told the inquest Gakuru death was not an accident but planned by Gachagua after the governor launched investigation on tender fraud.
