The Mt Kenya Times 
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- The DP received wild cheers and thunderous applause from the congregants when he told them. You can now understand why I changed my tune.
- As a community, we have learnt big lessons. As your leader, I will never listen to a leader telling us to hate a leader of another community.
- Moving forward, I urge you to make friend with other communities and treat them with respect.
- In coming days, we will negotiate and create political alliances with like minds.
- Back to the tour of Luo nation, the wish of critics of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua particularly those drawn from the Mount Kenya region was to see him being heckled and humiliated.
Last Sunday, I had an opportunity to listen to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s speech when he addressed congregants after attending a church service in Meru county.
This was DP’s first public engagement with the people of the Mountain. He had for the last four days accompanied his boss, President William Ruto, to a development tour of four counties of luo land.
The DP told the congregants that some people in this region (Mount Kenya) wanted me to explain and shed light on why I opted to throw my weight behind Hon.Raila Odinga.
This is my humble answer. In the run-up to 2022 polls, our son President Uhuru Kenyatta told us that Raila Odinga was a good man.
We ignored Uhuru, our son, and even called him names. We rejected Raila at the ballot.
On the other hand, the current President told us that Raila was a very bad man and we believed him when he told us if he wins the election he never share government with Raila.
Today, President Ruto is telling us that Raila is a good man.
He had reached out to him and brought him on board.
We are not saying what President Ruto has done is wrong.
But as your top leader in this region, I asked myself this question. Who is a fool?
Our son told us Raila is good. Ruto is now saying that Raila is good. If the two presidents have said that Raila is good, who is Gachagua to say No?
The DP received wild cheers and thunderous applause from the congregants when he told them. You can now understand why I changed my tune.
As a community, we have learnt big lessons. As your leader, I will never listen to a leader telling us to hate a leader of another community.
Moving forward, I urge you to make friend with other communities and treat them with respect.
In coming days, we will negotiate and create political alliances with like minds.
Back to the tour of Luo nation, the wish of critics of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua particularly those drawn from the Mount Kenya region was to see him being heckled and humiliated.
But to utter shock and dismay, their prayer fell flat. The DP was accorded a rousing welcome in the entire trip that covered the region’s four counties.
President Ruto also showered the ODM leader Raila Odinga with praises.
In one of the stopovers, Gachagua told the residents. Thank you for welcoming me. You are good people. I have realized the secret of keeping friendship is to love and embrace Baba (Raila).
A few days earlier, you saw me exactly doing this in Nairobi during the unveiling of Hon Raila Odinga’s candidacy for Africa Union Commission chairmanship.
Pastor Dorcas Gachagua, the spouse of DP also attended the launch.
She is one who led the prayer of committing Raila Odinga to God after being invited by the President.
We pray God to hold your hands. With God, everything is possible. You will definitely clinch that seat.
After the tour, majority of people in the Mountain hit out at the critics of Gachagua. We were shocked to see them washing their dirty lenin in public while visiting another region. To us, this was indeed the lowest moment.
By virtue of being the Second-In-Command, we want to tell the critics that Gachagua is not only the senior-most leader in our region but we also love him so much.
His critics were behaving badly. They were being given small money by the outsiders who felt threatened by Gachagua’s rising influence and popularity.
The outsiders were out to divide us with a view to weakening our political bargain come 2027 polls. We are now more wiser. We will not allow DP’s critics to have their way.
As we know, luo Nyanza is the bedroom of Raila.
With this, Gachagua once again demonstrated that he is a well schooled and experienced politician.
Therefore, you can only ignore him at your on peril.
He had read the political mood and he knew what the people of luo Nyanza wanted to hear.
While espousing his credentials as a reformer and gallant fighter for democracy and social justice in Kenya, the DP stated that he is highly qualified and best suited for AU seat. For Raila, serving the continent of Africa is not a job. It is calling.
We are praying for him and I’m sure he will clinch it.
The DP added: As you can see, I’m here with my boss, the President.
The President is here for development. He will be around for four days and I’m going to be with him.
As a deputy, my work is to help the President in ensuring the projects he rolls out are constructed and completed.
During the launch of Raila Odinga’s campaigns for AU top seat, the DP described Raila as his close friend.
You had previously heard a lot of stories. This did not mean I hate Raila.
But as a deputy, you know what my job entails.
The DP also received thunderous applause when he conveyed the greetings from the people of the Mountain.
I hoped the critics of DP particularly those drawn from the Mountain will not politicize and misinterpret the warm reception that Gachagua received to mean outshining the President. The DP was powerless. This was a mammoth crowd. The only thing he could have done is to cut short his speech and this is exactly what he would do.
I was wrong. In day two, some of Gachagua’s fierce critics from the Mountain showed up and we saw them engaging him in a bare knuckled attacks. The ultimate goal was to deflate DP’s growing popularity in Nyanza.
One of them stated: Don’t listen to the leader who is here to lecture you about village politics.
He never believed in Baba (Raila). Remember there was a time he had declared that he had set traps around State House and hired spies. This was in a bid to stop Raila from accessing President Ruto. This leader is out ‘to sow seeds of ethnic hatred and disharmony’.
We in the Mountain are fully behind President William Ruto’s vision and agenda of building a united and harmonious Kenya for all of us.
I’m not holding brief for DP but I want to make one thing very clear.
The position of DP does not in any way contradict that of the President.
We know Kenya’s politics is tribal and regional based. So, DP’s push for unity of Mount Kenya first is geared towards the realization of that same noble course.
Today we have four notable ethnic kingpins-President William Ruto (Kalenjin), Raila Odinga (Luo), Kalonzo Musyoka (Kamba) and Musalia Mudavadi/Moses Wetangula (Luhya).
The point here is clear. These leaders rose to national fame after consolidating support of their respective communities.
Perhaps this explains why the luos had little time for that Kikuyu leader as he trained his gun on Gachagua.
Putting the ongoing Nyanza tour aside, a friend of mine told me the other day that he does not believe in the rumors doing round that President William Ruto has abandoned his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
We all know that Gachagua was the team leader of Mount Kenya political machinery that catapulted Dr William Ruto, then Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate, to the seat of power.
Besides being ready to pay the ultimate price and commiting all his energy and time to this course, the second-in-command bankrolled Ruto’s from his own pocket.
My friend added: If the rumors turn out to be true, this would be a betrayal of the highest order. He however exonerated President from having originated and hatched this plot (if it is real) and instead pointed an accusing at his “kitchen cabinet”.
In the recent past, we have been hearing the DP complaining that some of the key confidantes and allies of the head of state were belittling and disrespecting him.
President Ruto is not however coming out strongly to reprimand them and throw his full weight behind the DP.
So, in the event that the threat to oust Gachagua is actualized, it will be hard for the President to convince the people of the Mountain that he did not have a hand.
It is worth noting my friend spoke with me on a day that President Ruto was attending the homecoming and thanksgiving ceremony for new cabinet secretary for Cooperatives and small business enterprises Wycliffe Oparanya in Kakamega.
In his speech, Dr Ruto hinted at the possibility of a merger of UDA and ODM parties to form a formidable political vehicle for 2027 general election.
Tellingly, DP Gachagua was conspicuously absent.
A few days earlier I had written an article in this column and these were my observations. In the run-up to 2022 General Election, the political opinions of the allies and confidantes of President William Ruto then Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate drawn from Mount Kenya region were divided on who should become his running mate.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki were the front-runners.
Initially and in a move that demonstrated he was a true democrat, Dr Ruto did not interfere with this exercise.
He wanted them to freely choose and give him the name of the candidate.
He only intervened after they failed to agree.
President Ruto settled on Gachagua, a move that drew admiration from majority of people in Mount Kenya.
Apart from being courageous and having deep pocket, Gachagua’s prowess in communicating in local dialect was immeasurable.
Whenever he hosted Dr Ruto in the Mountain during the campaigns, he always electrified the crowds.
I’m hear with William Ruto. You said this is man that you want to succeed the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. Isn’t it?
While referring Uhuru’s remarks that he would run the country for 10 years and then pass the baton to Ruto to do his 10 years, he would tell Dr Ruto.
We the people of Mountain what we hate is betrayal. We are truthful people and we are going to keep our word. We will vote for you to the last man and woman.
The argument that the kikuyus had already decided they will vote for Ruto with or without one of their own being a running mate does not hold any water.
I highly doubt this could have happened. Majority of Kikuyus wanted to see one of their own being at the top.
Gachagua never feared or shied away from taking on the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta head-on.
I’m ready to pay ultimate price while pushing Dr Ruto’s agenda.
Going by the latest media reports that President Ruto have fallen out with him, majority of the people in the mountain are asking. How soon and why?
Reports indicate that a section of members of parliament from Rift Valley have hatched a plot to impeach DP Gachagua. The critics of Gachagua from Mount Kenya region were also behind this plot.
Whenever I read these stories, two questions would come to my mind. Were they enjoying the blessing of the President? Did they stand a chance of having their way?
In my view, it was hard to impeach DP Gachagua because of changing political dynamics.
DP Gachagua’s strategy of mending fences with opposition leaders was already bearing fruits.
ODM leader Raila Odinga had already thrown his full weight behind DP’s push for one-man, one-vote, one-shilling.
Reliable reports also indicate he had made tremendous progress in reaching out former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He had also reached out to Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
The duo’s remarks and body language during the consecration of Bishop Benson Kamau (Kiengei) would attest to this.
This means the anti-Gachagua motion was bound to receive a strong opposition from members of the three parties-Jubilee, Wiper and ODM.
It is also worth noting that the DP had managed to change the narrative of Mount Kenya region.
One of the reasons is because he has up to date maintained his position that he is a truthful man. As such, his popularity in the Mountain is going up.
Given this scenario, you would expect the MPs from the Mountain to shoot down the motion.
Besides, if it turns out the
President supported the motion, many members were bound to interpret this as a big betrayal.
Why abandon him so soon? This demonstrates no one is safe in Ruto’s government.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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