Former Deputy President and DCP party leader Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that President William Ruto’s administration is planning to arrest Auditor General Nancy Gathungu over audit reports that have exposed alleged misuse of public funds.
The claims, made on Friday during a meeting with Maasai leaders and supporters at his Wamunyoro residence, have not been independently verified, and no government agency had responded by the time of publication.
Speaking at the meeting, Gachagua said he had received information from sources within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), alleging that efforts were underway to find evidence that could be used to prosecute the Auditor General.
“As we speak, sources today at the DCI have reached out to me and told me that Kasongo (the President) has said that the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu should be fished for evidence against her because she is bringing to light all that theft within the government,” Gachagua claimed.
“I have information that you have directed the DCI Director to look for grounds to have this woman arrested,” he added.
Gachagua alleged that Gathungu had fallen out of favour with senior government officials because of audit reports and opinions issued by her office on the implementation of key Kenya Kwanza administration programmes. He argued that the reports had exposed issues that had made some people within government uncomfortable.
The former Deputy President urged President Ruto to abandon the alleged plan, saying the Auditor General was simply carrying out her constitutional duty. He also claimed that some officers within the DCI were unhappy with what he described as political interference in their work.
In addition, Gachagua alleged there was growing dissatisfaction within the civil service, the National Police Service and the National Intelligence Service (NIS), although he did not provide evidence to support the claims.
However, the allegations could not be independently verified. Neither the Office of the Auditor General, the DCI nor the National Police Service had responded to Gachagua’s claims by the time of publication.
The remarks came barely a day after Gachagua claimed he had prior knowledge of the contents of President Ruto’s State of the Nation Address before it was delivered. He said he already knew that the President would announce a new national vision, which was later unveiled as a proposal for a national conversation beginning on Wednesday, August 12.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen later dismissed suggestions that Gachagua had access to confidential government information. He said discussions about the country’s future had involved Cabinet members and technical teams over several weeks and were never secret.
“I saw someone claiming that he had prior knowledge of what the President was going to say. I want to tell you that there is no secret about Kenya’s future. The President had already met the technical team entrusted with this assignment, as well as Cabinet members, over the past few weeks. Therefore, there was nothing secret about what he was going to say,” Murkomen said.