Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has alleged that Standard Media Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich was abducted following instructions issued by President William Ruto and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
In a statement posted on his official social media pages, Gachagua claimed that Ruto and Murkomen held a secret late-night meeting on Monday evening, where they allegedly discussed how to stop Kiprotich from publishing an investigative story.
According to Gachagua, the journalist had been preparing for an assignment in the Mau Forest, where thousands of Mau evictees from the Kipsigis community had allegedly been conned out of millions of shillings in compensation money.
Gachagua claimed that the funds had been diverted by officials within the National Government Administration through brokers and proxies linked to senior officials.
He further alleged that Kiprotich was preparing to publish a detailed exposé detailing how the compensation funds had been misappropriated, leaving the affected families helpless and in distress.
“A late-night meeting on Monday evening between Mr. William Ruto and Mr. Kipchumba Murkomen sealed the fate of Mr. Alex Kiprotich, where it was decided that he had to be stopped,” Gachagua wrote.
The former Deputy President further alleged that DCI Director Mohamed Amin was instructed to place Kiprotich under 24-hour surveillance.
He claimed that the DCI subsequently assembled a team allegedly headed by Zachary Kariuki, whom he described as a retired officer who had been recalled to coordinate the operation.
“This is the team that abducted Alex Kiprotich and was instructed to abandon the earlier plan to eliminate him after the abduction was captured live and provoked public outrage,” Gachagua alleged.
