by Nurat Uthman
Kenya’s ousted Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday lashed out at his boss William Ruto as “vicious” and cruel, warning that his life could be in danger.
Gachagua was impeached by the Senate on five out of 11 charges levelled against him on Thursday, but a court order put his replacement process on hold.
The embattled 59-year-old known as “Riggy G” said his security had been withdrawn and his entire staff sent on compulsory leave.
“I am shocked by how vicious a man I helped to be president, believed in and was persecuted when I supported, could be so vicious against me,” he told reporters in the capital Nairobi.
He was speaking after being discharged from a hospital in the Nairobi suburb of Karen where he was being treated for severe chest pains.
“If anything happens to me or my family, President William Ruto must be held to account,” he said, claiming past attempts at his life through poisoning.
Gachagua fell ill on Thursday afternoon barely an hour before he was due to testify in the unprecedented two-day impeachment trial at the Senate.
The upper house proceeded to vote on his removal from his office after his lawyers unsuccessfully bid to postpone the session.
He was found guilty on charges including threatening judges and using ethnically divisive politics, but cleared of corruption and money-laundering.
