Dorcas Gachagua: I had contemplated suicide before meeting Rigathi

Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua has come out to narrate how she met her husband, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

In a new interview with city preacher Kathy Kiuna, Dorcas said she met Gachagua during her student days at Kenyatta University through an interesting twist of fate involving the late former president Daniel Moi.

“It was an interesting day because I had contemplated suicide that day,” Mrs Gachagua said in the interview which aired on Sunday.

The second lady said that her frustrations were due to a domestic accident involving her mother, who was raising Dorcas and her seven siblings single-handedly.

The accident was caused by the explosion of a gas cooker she had bought her mother using her university allowances. To neighbours’ children were burned in the accident and the blame fell on her mother.

“On that day I was wondering why I had done all these things for my mother instead of using the money for something else. She was crying because of it and I felt that I wanted to die,” said Mrs Gachagua.

A friend invited her to go Kabarnet Gardens, where President Moi would be attending a function, and she saw a good opportunity to clear her mind.

It happened that the person writing down the names of those who were going was Mr Gachagua.

“I thought him interesting, he was wearing a brown suit and a brown stripped tie. He said hello and I just went in without ever thinking that this is the person I would end up marrying because all I ever wanted was to take care of my mother,” she said.

“At Kabarnet we saw the president and at that time I saw an opportunity and so I threw myself at him wanting to be shot and end this matter,” she narrated.

When the president saw her running towards him, he instead approached her and requested to meet her the following day to discuss what was troubling her.

“They came for me at Kenyatta University to State House and he spoke to me and gave me great lessons about life. He told me to never think of ending my life because of something like that and for two weeks, he was walking me through life,” she said

“He was like a father to me. He gave me my sense of life and dignity,” she said of the late former head of state.

It was at President Moi’s office where she and Mr Gachagua would meet again later, as Dorcas narrated.

“I think [Gachagua] had his own issues and needed to see the president and so he came in with his mother and that day she told him ‘Don’t leave her, I thought you want a graduate?’,” she said.

She further went on to explain how he pursued her for what she says was a long time while she was avoiding her.

“He would come to every dorm asking if they had seen me, and finally we met and the rest is history… I don’t know who put the other in the box but we found ourselves inside,” said Mrs Gachagua, noting that they have been married for 35 years now.

Speaking of what attracted her to Mr Gachagua, Dorcas praised him for being “very aggressive, hardworking and the love he had for his parents.”

The Second Lady, who is also a preacher herself, also touched on her relationship with faith, especially regarding the backlash some of her views regarding the subject have elicited among Kenyans.

In October, amid the biting drought that has been described as the worst Kenya has experienced in decades, Mrs Gachagua hit the headlines after she said she was certain God will step in and intervene.

But on Sunday, Mrs Gachagua said religion was ingrained in her mind in her upbringing, adding that it is what she has always used in times of crisis.

“People think I am too religious but is my lifestyle, I don’t know anything else. This is what I know, so I will pray with you in my office, in my car… and it has worked,” she said.