NAIROBI, Kenya – Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto of benefiting from illicit gold trade through a partnership with Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
Speaking in an interview on Monday, Gachagua claimed that Ruto invited Hemedti to Kenya in 2023 purely for personal business interests, not for the country’s diplomatic agenda.
He alleged that after being tasked with welcoming the Sudanese commander to Nairobi, he was abruptly locked out of a private meeting between Ruto and Hemedti at State House.
“If it had anything to do with Kenya, I would have sat through the meeting. But after they were done, I was the one who took him to the airport. I inquired, and they are doing business,” Gachagua alleged.
According to the former DP, the gold business involves smuggling precious metal from Sudan into Nairobi before rerouting it to Dubai.
Gachagua accused Ruto of compromising Kenya’s international reputation by engaging with the RSF, a group sanctioned by the international community for alleged war crimes, including genocide and the killing of children in Sudan.
“It is putting Kenya in a very bad light. President Ruto must accept that he will not be president forever. He cannot destroy this country and the way we are perceived by other nations. He must be a nationalist and put the country first,” he said.
The former DP further claimed that Sudanese authorities had threatened to halt Kenyan tea exports in response to Nairobi’s close ties with RSF.
He also linked Ruto’s alleged self-serving foreign policy to deteriorating relations with African leaders, particularly concerning Kenya’s handling of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“DRC we have handled very badly, and I am told many African presidents are unwilling to get involved in peace initiatives led by President Ruto because he is conflicted with commercial and personal interests,” Gachagua alleged.
Gachagua’s claims come just days after Kenya hosted RSF representatives in Nairobi on February 18, a move that sparked backlash from the Sudanese government.
The RSF used the event to announce a parallel government, raising fears that it could further deepen the ongoing war in Sudan.
Despite growing international criticism, the Kenyan government has defended its decision to engage with the RSF, even as the paramilitary group continues to make territorial gains in Khartoum and the Darfur region.
With Kenya’s diplomatic positioning under scrutiny, Gachagua’s accusations add fuel to an already contentious debate over Ruto’s handling of regional conflicts and his alleged entanglement in business deals with sanctioned warlords.
