H.E. Rigathi Gachagua: PHOTO[COURTESY]
The former deputy president and the president’s office have termed the letter fake.
This letter purporting that former Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua resigned is FAKE.
The letter, dated 16 October 2024, is purportedly addressed to the country’s President William Ruto and allegedly signed by Gachagua.
The letter claims that Gachagua does not believe he will get a fair trial in the Senate or court. Therefore, he has chosen to resign to safeguard his 2027 ambitions to vie for a state office.
To validate the letter’s authenticity, PesaCheck reviewed Gachagua’s social media pages but did not come across such a letter.
The Office of the former Deputy President has equally not published such a letter on their official social media pages. Similarly, no credible media house has reported on the news of Gachagua’s resignation.
PesaCheck contacted the head of Deputy President Communication Service Njeri Rugene via WhatsApp, and she stamped the letter as fake.
The Public Communications Director of the Presidential Communication Service, Wanjohi Githae, also confirmed to PesaCheck in a WhatsApp message that the letter under investigation was fake.
The Kenyan Senate began Gachagua’s impeachment trial on 16 October 2024, after the High Court ruled that the proceedings were constitutional. Gachagua had filed a petition to stop the Senate from proceeding with the impeachment trial.
On 16 October 2024, Gachagua pleaded not guilty to the 11 charges leveled against him. On 17 October 2024, the Senate upheld the National Assembly’s decision to impeach Gachagua. Following the vote of no confidence by the two houses, President Ruto on 18 October 2024 nominated and forwarded the Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki’s name to the National Assembly for vetting as the next Deputy President. Though the National Assembly approved the nomination of Kindiki as the new DP on 18 October 2024, the High Court issued temporary orders stopping the replacement of Gachagua until 24 October 2024. A day later, the hearing was pushed forward to 22 October 2024.
PesaCheck has looked into the letter purporting that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has resigned and finds it to be FAKE.
This post was first published on the PesaCheck website. It is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organizations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. They do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
