NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 1 — Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has renewed accussations against the National Intelligence Service (NIS) now alleging that the spy agency secretly recorded his private meeting with the late Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno during the height of his impeachment battle.
Gachagua now argues that the alleged surveillance of his conversation with Ng’eno is directly relevant to ongoing concerns surrounding the fatal helicopter crash that claimed the lawmaker’s life in Mosop, Nandi County, on Saturday.
Speaking during a church service in Nyandarua County on Sunday, Gachagua claimed that after hecontacted Ng’eno for discussions about the impeachment process, NIS officers were dispatched to bug his room in Kisumu and record their exchange.
“Once the recording was taken to the President, he was summoned and thoroughly intimidated,” Gachagua alleged, suggesting that Ng’eno had been under pressure following the meeting.
Ng’eno was among six people killed when an AS350 helicopter, registration 5Y-DSB, crashed in Kabiyet Sub-location in Mosop.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that the aircraft went down at about 4.30pm after departing Endebes en route to Mosoriot.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) has since launched investigations into the cause of the crash.
Gachagua has called for an independent and transparent probe, arguing that agencies he accuses of political interference should not influence the investigative process.
It is not the first time Gachagua has made accusations against NIS.
‘Poisoning attempt’
In October 2024, while speaking from Karen Hospital in Nairobi, he claimed that officers linked to the intelligence service attempted to assassinate him on two occasions through food poisoning.
The first alleged attempt, he said, occurred on August 30 in Kisumu, where he claimed undercover security agents bugged his hotel room and tried to poison his meal.
A second alleged attempt, according to Gachagua, took place on September 30 in Nyeri during a meeting with elders.
At the time, he said he reported the incidents but later asked security officers assigned to him to leave because he no longer felt safe.
He also alleged that the impeachment motion against him was initiated after the purported assassination attempts failed.
The renewed claims now place the intelligence agency at the centre of two separate controversies — the 2024 alleged poisoning attempts and the current accusation of secretly recording political meetings involving Ng’eno before his death.
Gachagua further alleged that Ng’eno had confided in him about political pressure and threats linked to the impeachment process.
He claimed the MP signed the motion “with tears” after facing what he described as intimidation.
Neither President William Ruto nor the National Intelligence Service both the previous and current claims.
