On October 30, 2024, impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua joined the family of the late Mwalimu Geoffrey Murugami for his final farewell Holy Mass at St Joseph Catholic Church, Tharuni in Limuru, Kiambu County. 

This was a day before the High Court ruled that he Mr Gachagua be replaced in office by the then Interior CS Kithure Kindiki who went ahead to be sworn in on Friday morning.

Mr Gachagua as though inspired by a strong premonition that he was delivering his last speech before going down, spoke as a man writing a political obituary to his two(2) years as Deputy President. 

He said that “irrespective of what will happen in the court process, let our people remain peaceful and build our country”. 

"A time will come for us to speak. Don't you get worried, there is something I know… We are the ones who were there, we are the ones present and we are the ones to be around… The issues of this house will be reassembled," Mr Gachagua said.

He added that “you may push Rigathi Gachagua around… but please, let the work he did for two(2) years of saving the boy child remain”.

"Leaders come and go,” he said.

He said: “I want to hint to you that there is something I know which they don't know... All is not lost. We are factory resetting issues of this house. We are not a bunch of fools.”

Mr Gachagua observed that he did a lot of work to fight killer brews when he was in office for two(2) years.

"Since they started fighting me, those brews have started coming back. We usually praise the cow’s dairy performance once it is dead…The brews that were finishing the house of Mumbi are creeping back in my absence," he said.

Mr Gachagua added that “they started fighting me… and it is not me they are fighting mark you, it is the House of Mumbi they are fighting, so that this house can get annihilated”.

As a point of embracing reality of the moment, Mr Gachagua added: “I want to ask those of you now in government…chiefs, your assistants and the police…please, don’t allow these killer brews finishing my community to make a comeback.”

Mr Gachagua lamented that those fighting him want him to exit with work so far done “so that It can be said I left no footprints in the office”.

Boy child

About his exit from office, Mr Gachagua cryptically said “we are after justice…be cool…he who is ejected by use of justice indeed exits but he who is ejected by the power of violence gets back… My prayer is that the judiciary will give justice to Rigathi Gachagua and his supporters".

He said the Mt Kenya boy child is an endangered species “the seed carrier is in trouble and it is something we must all unite against regardless of where we are in the society”.

He praised his supporters as intelligent and with ability to decipher the politics of the day.

"You my people are intelligent. There is nothing you don't know (about what I am going through). Keep still and utter no word. People are asking why my people are not out in the streets protesting…They ask why the Deputy President does not have supporters to light bonfires and shout all over… that is not the nature of the Mountain people,” he said.

He added that "when we see, we observe in silence…There is that day we usually do what is necessary… You all know that day. Keep quiet and persevere. The colonisers fought us and we persevered.  President Daniel Moi rule came and fought us for 24 years…we persevered and never forgot. Even about these current issues…we are observing and we will not forget”.

He urged his supporters to concentrate on their livelihoods for now, keep the peace, and wait for 2027.

"Let us keep quiet, we go back to our livelihoods waiting for the D-day. I pray for peace especially among my Mt Kenya people. Please let us remain peaceful. Love one another, coexist with others in peace… those neighbours have not wronged us. This country is bigger than all of us. We do not have another Kenya to run to," he said.

He insisted that it was not him who was being fought but his community.

“This is not my war, it is our House’s war… We are coming back. We have started assembling ourselves afresh," he said. 

He said he was being brought down on grounds that directly depicted the target was the Mountain.

"They said I love my people. That is one of the grounds they tabled...That I speak in mother tongue…That I was opposing senseless demolitions and refusing forceful evictions from trading spaces," he lamented.

He added that his happiness is that all those MPs and senators who betrayed him are not getting public space to address voters.

“What they did has irked my people… I am happy that we have people like Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang’wa and Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomba as well as Juja MP George Koimburi who cannot be bought with dirty money to betray our people," he said.

He advocated for husbands talking nicely to their wives “because it is now a bygone case that the fair gender must sit on us”.

He added: “In my case, my wife Pastor Dorcas Rigathi, I talk to her nicely every morning and every evening to avoid giving her a reason to launch an uprising against me…The world we are living in is very hostile…should I fail to get peace outside here, I at least is guaranteed peace at home.”

This came as the Mountain experienced an outpouring of grief on confirmation of the Gachagua fall from President Ruto's government.

Former Laikipia Woman Representative Cate Waruguru said Gachagua's resilience stood resolute like a Mountain, despite relentless storms. 

"They branded you as tribal and primitive. They plotted for your removal through impeachment motion. Money flowed, swayed MPs, and Senators to strike down a man with the people's interest at heart. The justice system stands at a crossroads. The very institutions meant to protect fairness and integrity, betrayed their purpose, with decisions swayed by powerful interests rather than guided by truth and equity," Ms Waruguru said.

Ms Waruguru said "they forget one(1) fundamental truth, in the hands of the people lies the true power of change. And when time comes, the people will speak, wielding their ballots as both shield and sword, demanding leaders who value their concerns over politics".

Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu termed Mr Gachagua's fall as the Judas moment. 

"We are mourning negative judicial craft and innovation. When judges want to circumvent the law they come up with all manner of interpretations to suit the desires of the person for whom they are gate keeping," Mr Nyutu said.

Mr Nyutu added that the framers of the Constitution ensured that the procedure for removal of the Deputy President be elaborate. 

"Why couldn’t the court reinstate the former DP temporarily as they dealt with the substantive issues raised if their only concern was the vacancy in the office? There were many petitions that had been filed, but the court decided to ignore others and deal with the only ones that had conservatory orders," he said. 

Maragua MP Mary Wamaua alleged that the judiciary through the bench's body language and hostility towards the advocates for the former DP was a clear give away that they had firm instructions to discharge the conservatory orders.

"Look at how quickly the swearing in ceremony was organised. A committee for assumption of office is established overnight and in record time managed to organise the ceremony. Then a public holiday is declared so that the court of appeal doesn’t sit," Ms Wamaua said.