Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration Kipchumba Murkomen has launched a scathing attack on former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accusing him of exploiting the deaths of prominent leaders to revive what he termed a “failed political career.”
In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday, Murkomen described Gachagua as “hopeless, helpless and despicable,” alleging that he was using the deaths of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Francis Ogolla and former Emurua Dikirr MP Johanna Ng’eno for political mileage.
The Interior CS particularly took issue with remarks Gachagua allegedly made ahead of a planned visit to Emurua Dikirr, saying it was “pathetic and unfortunate” to invoke the death of Ng’eno for political attention.
Murkomen noted that Ng’eno died more than five months ago in a plane crash and said the family was still grieving. He added that preliminary investigations had attributed the crash to bad weather.
“It is in the public domain that residents of Chepkiep in Nandi County, where the pilot made an emergency landing to assess the weather, corroborated the unfortunate circumstances of the ill-fated crash,” Murkomen said.
The Cabinet Secretary questioned Gachagua’s relationship with the late MP, claiming he had neither contacted nor visited the family to offer condolences.
“Suddenly, with complete irresponsibility, you roll out a conspiracy theory that the fuel was adulterated,” Murkomen said, dismissing the allegations as “made-up, cooked-up nonsense meant for political mischief.”
Murkomen also rejected attempts to link him to aviation fuel supply, saying the Interior Ministry has no oversight over fuel distribution or air transport.
He challenged Gachagua to publicly provide the names of individuals he allegedly claimed had information about an “unusual car” that transported jet fuel and a driver briefly arrested by Kenya Revenue Authority officials.
“Why don’t you make their names public? Why are you protecting them? Why not hand over identities and statements to investigators or record a statement with the DCI?” Murkomen posed.
The CS further accused Gachagua of having announced Ng’eno’s death at a political rally before the family had been informed, and said the former deputy president continued to “torment” the family with what he termed wild allegations.
Murkomen said he would continue discharging his mandate of protecting lives and property, insisting that attempts to distract Kenyans from what he called Gachagua’s “disgraceful and criminal enterprise” would not succeed.
Read: Interior CS Murkomen Blames Politicians for Violence as Fuel-Price Protests Turn Deadly
>>> PS Mang’eni Rebuts Gachagua Over Hustler Fund, Says Nyeri Borrowers Accessed KSh1.88bn
Leave a comment