Gachagua Has All It Takes To Spearhead Tea, Coffee, Milk Reforms
The Mt Kenya Times 
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- This reduced us to paupers. No money to pay school fees, buy food and meet other financial obligations of our families. Our work is just toiling with nothing in return.
- For Dr Ruto, it will no longer be business as usual.
- My administration will ensure tea, coffee and milk farmers and other farmers in our Republic have money in their pockets.
- For the residents of Mioro, my cousin told me they were happy with Dr Ruto because of appointing DP to spearhead the reforms. Gachagua is leaders who fully understand our problems and he has demonstrated his commitment to address them.
I come from a village called Mioro in Mathioya, Muranga County. This area borders Abardare Mountain and hence it is cold and has plenty of rains.
During the campaign, the Kenya Kwanza flag-bearer Dr William Ruto, now the President of Kenya, attended a burial here and my cousin told me he was overheard saying.
This place is very cold. I know the reason is because I hail from warm area of Rift Valley.
He was however upbeat to note the area is endowed with fertile soil that mainly favors the growing of one of main cash crop in our Republic.
Pray for us to win the elections. If this happens, we shall address and fix the problems you have been encountering.
Though nowadays I live in Nairobi, I have been talking with my relatives who reside there.
The other day I called my cousin Gakungu Wa Kamau.
Responding to one of my guestion regarding the locals’ take on pledges President Ruto promised to fulfill in 100 days, he told me.
People here are not complaining. Dr Ruto has made good progress and he has been laying a good and sound foundation to achieve his goals.
For us, the tea farmers, he promised to deal ruthless with cartels and brokers who were eating our sweat. These cartels did not know how the tea was planted or even owned a single tea tree and yet they were pocketing a huge chunk of our money.
This reduced us to paupers. No money to pay school fees, buy food and meet other financial obligations of our families. Our work is just toiling with nothing in return.
For Dr Ruto, it will no longer be business as usual.
My administration will ensure tea, coffee and milk farmers and other farmers in our Republic have money in their pockets.
For the residents of Mioro, my cousin told me they were happy with Dr Ruto because of appointing DP to spearhead the reforms. Gachagua is leaders who fully understand our problems and he has demonstrated his commitment to address them.
We recall he had played a key role of mobilizing and rallying the United Democratic Alliance (UDA)/Kenya Kwanza leaders from Mount Kenya region to draft an Economic Charter. He later led a team that presented to Dr William Ruto who agreed to implement it to the letter and spirit.
The Charter featured all our challenges and since he was sworn in Gachagua has continued to keep the fire burning.
By appointing him to lead these reforms, we believe that President Ruto is committed to keep his word.
It is worth to note that fighting the cartels and brokers is not a walk in the park.
This is because the roots of some of them were deeply rooted as they had been in this business of reaping from where they did not sow for many years. Many believe this happened because some of them were working with government of the day and others enjoyed high level political connections.
This explains why the efforts by previous governments of President Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta failed to bore the fruits. For Uhuru, he had set up a Task Force in 2016 but he never acted on the recommendations.The report is still gathering dust somewhere in a government office. I’m sure the DP will look for this report as it offers vital guidelines on how his committee meets the objectives.
The message is however clear. Gachagua can only succeed if the Kenya Kwanza throws its full weight behind him. To fast-track these reforms, his team will not need financial resources but also goodwill from all the relevant state institutions.
In his parting shot, my cousin who is a diehard of Dr Ruto and a well-known political activist, told me.
Here in Mioro and this resonate with many people in Mathioya, we have already made up our minds.
Gachagua fits in Uhuru’s shoes. Infact, he is even doing well in terms of protecting our interests. We want him to become the kingpin of Mount Kenya region. God bless him.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a Writer and Political Analyst based in Nairobi
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