This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
On July 15, 2020, Kenyans woke up to a fierce campaign against Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua's wife, Pastor Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi, a pastor at House of Grace Church and a former banker, for allegedly being involved in money laundering and looting public funds.
Under the hashtag #RigathisStealingWife, which trended at the top for the whole morning, netizens exposed Pastor Dorcas as a proxy conduit receiver for 'Rigathi looters Inc.'
Details emerged of how Mathira MP Hon. Rigathi Gachagua amassed a fortune worth billions of shillings in record time, between July 2015 and February 2020, using an intricate web of firms listed under him, his wife Pastor Dorcas Wanjiku Rigathi, and William Wahome Mwangi.
Netizens lamented that bribery, favouritism, nepotism, and embezzlement of funds remained the most prevalent form of corruption in political leaders.
Many took to Twitter to express their outrage, with one user stating, 'Rigathi Gachagua has been using his wife; Pastor Dorcas Wanjiku to defraud Nyeri County Govt, NG-CDF & various Agencies like N.I.B. She is the director & signatory of all her husband's companies whose bank accounts have been frozen by Asset Recovery Agency.'
Another user added, 'The R in Ruto stands for Corruption. The R in Rigathi Gachagua stands for corruption. The R in Kuria stands for corruption. Birds of the same feather flock together. DP Ruto and his Tanga Tanga Thugs like Rigathi Gachagua will fleece this country dry.'
Some users even went as far as saying, 'Behind every successful thief, there's a woman. Pastor Dorcas Rigathi is a wife and doubles as director in all Rigathi's companies used to defraud Kenyans. Dorcas has proved to be the architect of all the dirty deals Rigathi Gachagua is being involved with.'
