'How I saved Justin Muturi from losing his job in Cabinet': Gachagua recalls

Speaking at Muturi's book launch in Nairobi on Friday, Gachagua recounted how, during the second batch of Cabinet appointments,  President Ruto summoned him and Mudavadi to flank him at the announcement, but he refused to proceed without seeing the final list.

According to Gachagua, Ruto had initially omitted his selections from Embu County in the first batch of cabinet appointments, prompting him to decline participating in the announcement unless he had prior access to the final list.

"In the next appointment, he called Musalia and I to flank him and announce the last batch. He was in a hurry and told us to go. I told him to wait, how do we flank you to announce what we don't know? If we're flanking you, we must be part and parcel of it. I cannot hear it for the first time with the rest of Kenyans and the press. Ruto rushed to his office," he remarked. 

The former DP recalled how the president, visibly irate, later returned with the list and threw it at him while issuing a warning about his actions. 

"Ruto came back and threw the list at me. I looked at it and found that JB had been dropped and he had put someone else. I asked him, who's this? He's somebody Cecily Mbarire brought. I told him I couldn't be part and parcel of it," he said.

Gachagua revealed that the exchange escalated, prompting the president to accuse him of tribalism before ultimately conceding.

The former DP added that he made it clear he would publicly distance himself from the announcement if Muturi was excluded.

"He said, wewe Rigathi, hii ukabila yako itakufikisha wapi. He kept quiet for three minutes and told me to remove the name and place J.B," he noted. 

"I told him that if we went to the press and you announced the other name, I'll walk away when the press. That's how JB got his job back. After that, I was thrown away and he followed me," Gachagua concluded his remarks amidst the laughter from the crowd. 

During the book launch, Gachagua was flanked by other opposition leaders such as Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper Patriotic Front), Eugene Wamalwa (DAP-K), Fred Matiang'i (Jubilee) among others.