Deputy Presidential candidates Hon. Rigathi Gachagua and Martha Karua faced off in a much publicized debate held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) on Tuesday 19.
Rigathi who is DP William Ruto’s running mate was the first to arrive at the venue flanked by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Kenya Kwanza Campaign Secretariat Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed.
Many followers of Azimio La Umoja Coalition had expected Ms Karua to pull a stellar performance against Hon Gachugua whom they thought she would paint as a corrupt man.
Hon. Gachagua said that President Uhuru Kenyatta is the man behind his recent arrests and the freezing of his bank accounts.
He detailed how the president sent his advisors to threaten him for supporting DP William Ruto who is challenging Azimio’s Mzee Raila Odinga for presidency.
“They froze my accounts, KRA froze all my companies, they arrested me for one and a half years, no evidence in court. I’m a victim of blackmail and persecution from President Uhuru Kenyatta who is using the state criminal justice system to manage politics and deal with those who do not agree with him.” Gachagua said.
The Mathira lawmaker explained that made his money as an astute businessman who started investing during the tenure of the late President Mwai Kibaki.
“I made over Sh200 million and invested in an account ….. In 2013, when I supported Uhuru Kenyatta, I still had the money. In 2017 when I supported him, I still had the money in my personal account. This is money that I have accounted for. It’s clean money, I’m a good businessman,” he added.
Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition presidential running mate Ms Karua told the moderators that she is worth Sh150 million. She avaded how she pocketed £50,000 from B.A.T to prevent a rival company supplying Kenya with technology to combat cigarette smuggling.
“I am not thirsty for land, I’m not thirsty for worldly goods. I’m happy to have a house called home. I’m happy to have a house on my father’s land,” she said.
Gachagua excelled over Ms Karua whom he lebaled as part of a project funded by President Kenyatta who wants to extend his term and rule through proxies.
“He is crafting his succession through Raila Odinga and Martha Karua… he will continue to govern this country outside his Constitutional mandate.” He said.
And about tax evasion, Gachugua pointed that Martha is being sponsored by the masterminds of the vice. He backed his allegations with gazette notice where President Kenyatta used his powers to exempt his family, the “first family from paying Sh350 million while merging two banks.
“Through a gazette notice and by a single signature, two companies owned by the first family were exempted from paying Sh350 million. Money that can put up 35 level three hospitals in Kenya.
That is chronic corruption. That’s conflict of interest and State capture. The real corruption that we need to deal with is State capture,” Hon. Gachagua said.
The man who earned his spot for his excellent mobilization skills and long experience in public service gave Ms Karua no chance to hit on corruption where ODM people thought she would score points.
Gachagua is well spoken and easy to understand but Karua sounded confused while quoting the constitution. At some point she left the viewers confused if quoted Article 46 or 47, she stammered over them and just moved on.
Her response to State Capture was wanting. Ms Karua is now viewed as a phony politician who understands how State Capture is dangerous but is not ashamed to benefit from it.
“I want to help Mr Gachagua. State capture is the repurposing of the State to serve individuals rather than the public good. Corruption cartels in this country, whoever they are have strangled the country. Kenya can’t breathe. Our health services, the money is taken, the money for agriculture, for fertilizer subsidies, for building dams.
But Karua is a project of the cartels and the Handshake Team that has refused to reduce the cost of fertilizer and food. They have hiked the cost of living and killed the economy through reckless borrowing and squandering.
Karua claimed that she is clean and not thirsty for land, she conveniently forgot that Azimio is funded by top land grabbers fraudulent billionaires who have displaced thousands.
“I am not thirsty for land, I’m not thirsty for worldly goods. I’m happy to have a house called home. I’m happy to have a house on my father’s land,” she said.
Gachagua went on to embarrass her as a walking out type citing a case where Karua walked out on former president Mwai Kibaki when he needed her most.
Karua resigned from the late president’s government after Kenyatta was made the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance because was not satisfied with the Justice and Legal Affairs docket, she was angry for more.
In her defense, she asked Gachagua’s boss – Dr Ruto to do the honorable thing and resign if he feels that President Kenyatta’s government is not doing the right thing.
Mr Gachagua would again explain it to the Senior Counsel that the position of Deputy President is elective and not appointive. He told Karua that the 2010 constitution protects the holder of the DP’s office.
He argued that if the law didn’t protect Dr. Ruto, President Kenyatta and would have sacked and replaced him with Kanu chairman Mr Gideon Moi.
“The plan was to provoke him, intimidate him, humiliate him, persecute him, his friends and allies so that he could quit the government and allow Uhuru Kenyatta to appoint somebody from a family that they share the same issues or the same values.”
In his closing remarks, Hon. Gachagua explained what the Kenya Kwanza administration will do in its first 100 days in office and in the entire term.
“I want to ask Kenyans to give us a chance to sort them out and put money in their pockets. In the first 100 days we shall clear all the pending bills. We shall also bring reforms in the NHIF program so that every Kenyan has access to healthcare. Allow us spearhead the third liberation of economic empowerment. On the August 9, let Kenyans come and vote for change for economic development and restore their dignity and change their lives,” Gachagua said.
