NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 28 – Kenya Kwanza Deputy Presidential candidate Rigathi Gachagua has escalated his war with the government this time accusing it of being sluggish in the manner in which it handled past insecurity cases in the country.
Gachagua has in particular singled out President Uhuru Kenyatta and Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi whom he blamed of being negligent in their respective roles.
While referencing the past Laikipia insecurity cases, Gachagua regretted that it was unfortunate innocent Kenyans lost their lives through insecurity yet the Head of State and Matiangi failed to act promptly at the time when they were required to.
“I was a personal assistant to President Kenyatta for seven years and this one time I called him and told him that he had failed Kenyans especially the people of Laikipia who elected him,” he said.
“The Interior Minister who is also tasked to deal with such insecurity cases was negligent. He claims to be a performer but I want to tell Kenyans that his job is just to get fat,” Gachagua said on Tuesday during the alliance’s economic forum in the region.
Gachagua noted he and the people of Laikipia will forgive the Head of State for many other wrongs but not on the deaths that were caused by the insecurity in the region.
“We will forgive the President for ruining the economy, for bringing on board the opposition in the government but we will not forgive him for sitting and watching the deaths that occurred in Laikipia yet the country has enough police force and the military,” he said.
Some parts of Laikipia have been experiencing insecurity since 2021 when bandits invaded some conservancies leading to the deaths of police officers and civilians.
Thousands more have been displaced in the ensuing chaos.
In September, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew within Laikipia Nature Conservancy to pave way for a security operation to flush out criminal elements from the area.
The decision followed a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Kenyatta after weeks of escalating insecurity.
The NSC meeting resolved that the “Laikipia Nature Conservancy and its environs be immediately declared as a disturbed area and therefore a security operation zone.”
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