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| DP Gachagua ,his wife and son |
Before the 2022 General Election, Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua made his first public remarks regarding his family. Keith Ikinu (l) with his parents Dorcas and Rigathi Gachagua. Who is Keith Gachagua? Which business does Keith own? Inside Treetops Hotel Businesses owned by Gachagua and managed by Keith Wamunyoro Investments Limited Encater Diagnostics Ltd Technical Supplies and Services (K) Gachagua’s business journey + View more According to the DP, the family is the basic unit of society and the nation. Gachagua disclosed that he is married to one woman and has two children. “I was born and brought up on the slopes of Mt Kenya. Family is a basic unit of society and the nation. Strong families make strong nations,” Gachagua said. Gachagua was blessed with two boys during his over 35-year marriage to Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi. The firstborn son, Kelvin Gachagua, is a software engineer. Who is Keith Gachagua? Keith Ikinu Gachagua, the politician’s secondborn son, is a physician who assists his father in managing the family business. According to Bizna Kenya, the doctor was among the top students in the 2010 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. The Alliance High School alumnus was ranked 17th nationally, with a mean grade of A plain of 86.92 points. After excelling in high school, Keith proceeded to the University of Nairobi (UoN), where he studied bachelor of medicine and surgery.”My wife and I were overwhelmed with excitement, and indeed, we are very proud parents. We thank God for his goodness in seeing Keith through a very difficult course that took him six years,” Gachagua said during his son’s graduation. Which business does Keith own? According to Daily Nation, Keith acquired the iconic Treetops and Outspan Hotels, which are set to reopen this month, charting a new era for the hospitality sector. The Treetops Hotel, famed for witnessing Queen Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne 72 years ago, will also be a significant relic of the Mau Mau movement in Nyeri. Keith explained that the establishment holds a significant part of Kenya’s history, including its liberation struggle, that has remained untold. “For instance, very few people know that beneath the hotel lie underground tunnels constructed by the Mau Mau fighters for accessing the facility,” he expounded. READ ALSO Homa Bay: Protests Erupt after Murder of Evans Kidero’s Former Bodyguard, Suspect Arrested Located roughly 10 kilometres from the hotel, within the Aberdare Forest, is a fig tree that served as a post office for the Mau Mau movement. Gachagua hinted at the absorption of the hotels on April 4 at the Nyeri National Polytechnic’s fourth graduation ceremony. He said the decision to buy the two historic hotels stemmed from a challenge he shared with the local business people. Inside Treetops Hotel Treetops Hotel was a treehouse at the edge of a watering hole in Aberdare National Park. It was a three-bedroom cabin built on top of an ancient fig tree, with a small servants’ quarter at the upper branches. When Princess Elizabeth and his newly wedded husband, Prince Philip, visited the hotel, they were housed in the three-bedroom shack. The original treehouse was then burned to the ground by Mau Mau rebels in 1954, leaving a metal plaque, Daily Mail reported. The hotel was later rebuilt opposite the nearby watering hole, and the queen visited it in 1982. Following Gachagua’s son’s acquisition of the facility, workers were optimistic it would roar back to life. Businesses owned by Gachagua and managed by Keith Wamunyoro Investments Limited The company reportedly won tenders during Nderitu Gachagua’s reign as Nyeri governor. Gachagua and his wife are listed as directors. Encater Diagnostics Ltd The company deals with medical supplies. It reportedly received KSh 123,175,000 after winning tenders in respective county governments. Technical Supplies and Services (K) The building company received KSh 220.8 million from the national government, while Skytop Agencies received KSh 20.6 million from the national government and another KSh 2.05 million from counties. Other companies include Rapid Medical Supplies, Jenne Enterprises, Machine Centre Ltd and Riang International Group. Gachagua’s business journey Gachagua previously revealed he made his money by establishing several businesses in over 40 years. The DP claimed he made his first cash when he was a student at the university, where he organised discos and sold sweets. Gachagua maintained he genuinely earned his money by doing legitimate business with the national and county governments.
by Japhet Ruto