• Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has stated that President William Ruto’s move to forgive Uhuru Kenyatta caught many by surprise
• He said that President Ruto’s actions were contrary to the expectation of many who had thought that he would launch vengeance instead
• He further recalled what he termed as the “toxic affair” witnessed in the last Prayer Breakfast
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has stated that President William Ruto’s unprecedented move to forgive his former boss and ‘tormentor‘ Uhuru Kenyatta caught many insiders by surprise.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
Speaking during a National Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, Gachagua said that President Ruto’s actions were contrary to the expectation of many who had thought that he would launch vengeance on those who had opposed his presidential bid.
“Against the expectations of many people who witnessed the persecution that he was subjected to, the harassment and the intimidation had expected him to go hammer and tongs for his tormenters. He shocked all of us when he insisted that he is a Christian and the Bible has taught him that forgiveness is a calling from God and he decided to lead this country by giving leadership in forgiveness and matters reconciliation,” said Gachagua.
“His first appointment on being sworn in as President, he shocked all of us, was to a man who had made it difficult for him to rise to the presidency but he was forgiving and that was it.”
The DP further confessed that it has been a mind-bending task for many in government to forgive those who acted in malice against them and that it took lots of convincing and guidance from President Ruto to drop their resentments.
“Many people would have expected by now, that all those who stood in his path to leadership would be dealt with the way his people were being dealt with; being arrested, taken to court, being harassed by KRA but the president decided that we need to reconcile this country,” he added.
He further recalled what he termed as the “toxic affair” witnessed in the last Prayer Breakfast, where he said President Ruto was not allowed to sit at the same table with his boss.
In the event, which had undertones of divisive politics, DP Gachagua said that Ruto’s seat had been removed from Kenyatta’s table by a lady in the protocol team.
Praising President Ruto’s goodwill, DP Gachagua said that the lady was pardoned and even promoted at work, a move which was against the will of many.
“Many people were persuaded that the lady who had removed the chair from where Dr Ruto was supposed to sit should be shown the door. When the president came to learn of it, said ‘No we must reconcile with the reality, that is behind us,’ As we speak today, she works around the president,” recalled Gachagua.
Mr Gachagua also brought up another instance where President Ruto shocked him with his magnanimity in the face of hostility.
“When the president and his family and their belongings were thrown out of the official residence of the Deputy President in Mombasa, most of us were persuaded that those who had participated in throwing out his belongings should be shown the door; again he insisted that should not be the case,” he recalled.
He praised his boss for his leadership which has occasioned change and peace in the nation’s leadership.
“What I am trying to say is that the new administration is one that is persuaded to reconcile the country and therefore we want to plead and persuade all leaders to also reconcile with the truth and reality.”
