Deputy President Gachagua Demands NIS Chief Noordin Haji Resignation.

In a fiery address from Mombasa on Wednesday, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua called for the resignation of National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin Haji, accusing him of overseeing a dramatic decline in the agency's effectiveness since taking over the role in June 2023.

Gachagua's criticism centered on the NIS's failure to properly assess public sentiment regarding the recently withdrawn Finance Bill 2024. According to Gachagua, this failure left President Ruto and his administration blindsided by the widespread opposition that led to fatal protests and a storming of Parliament on Tuesday.

"I sympathise with President Ruto because this information was not available to him. NIS is mandated to provide such information and that is where the problem is; we have a dysfunctional NIS that has exposed the President, the government and the people of Kenya," Gachagua declared.

Gachagua didn't mince words, directly attributing the deaths, destruction, and chaos of the protests to Haji's inadequate performance. "Noordin Haji must take responsibility for the deaths that have occurred, the mayhem witnessed and for failing Ruto, the government and Kenya by not doing his job and advising correctly. He must not just take responsibility but resign from that office and allow the president to pick a competent DG," he insisted.

Gachagua argued that if Haji had properly briefed the President on the public's strong opposition to the Finance Bill, the situation could have been avoided. "People had to die, property destroyed and protests for the President to know what Kenyans felt, yet there is an organisation funded by Kenyans to brief the president and the public about the sentiments of Kenyans," he said.

Further intensifying his criticism, Gachagua revealed that officers from the National Police Service (NPS) confided in him about the lack of advance intelligence on the scale of the protests. "Officers from the National Police Service have told me in confidence that they did not receive advance intelligence briefs about the magnitude of the protests. Never have protesters invaded Parliament," Gachagua disclosed.

Gachagua also attacked Haji's qualifications and leadership style, alleging that his appointment led to a purge of experienced personnel within the NIS. "When he (Haji) was appointed to the office of the Director General, he chased away all the people who were senior to him when he was in the service because of an inferiority complex, crippling NIS and making it dysfunctional," he said.

He elaborated, "Three directors were chased away and reassigned to desk jobs across the government. 13 assistant directors, men and women with proven track records of intelligence and analysis, were removed from the NIS leaving a shell under a clueless Director General with no capacity to run the organisation. That is why the security sector was caught off guard by the intensity of the protests. Had Noordin Haji done his job; we would not be where we are today."

As the political landscape in Kenya heats up, the Deputy President's call for Haji's resignation marks a significant escalation in the internal conflict within the government, raising questions about the future of the country's intelligence and security apparatus.