Finish and go Mr President, Rigathi is already here

The premier deputy presidential debate last Tuesday finally settled, if any settlement was needed, the matter of who takes over from President Uhuru Kenyatta the unofficial mantle of Mt Kenya leader.

It has never been in doubt that Deputy President and United Democratic Alliance (UDA)/Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto was spot on in his choice of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua as his running mate.

Nothing explains this better than the intensity of the ammunition that Azimio and opinion pollsters have directed at Mr Gachagua in the past two months.

If Mr Gachagua were a run-of-the-mill person, Azimio would have popped champagne from the day he was picked.

The interest the coalition party, and especially Jubilee, had in the UDA process betrayed it all.

Since he became the running mate, Mr Gachagua has been the butt of twisted phraseology from the other side, which has, on many occasions, literally put words in his mouth. 

On the flipside, Azimio's running mate Martha Karua has been projected as the only silver bullet presidential candidate Raila Odinga needed to scale the mountain and win over millions of votes to compensate for what the flagbearer has lost in Western, Coast and Ukambani regions.

Battle of running mates

In fact, to Azimio, the battle in Mt Kenya is not between Dr Ruto and its presidential candidate Raila Odinga; it is between the running mates.

This paradigm was set in the false belief that Ms Karua would run over Mr Gachagua, whichever way they were paired.

But so far there is neither white smoke nor any signal that she has outdone Mr Gachagua.

On the ground, it has been clear from Day One that Ms Karua did not resonate with the crowd.

This further explains why Azimio bloggers have gone hammer and tongs against Mr Gachagua. 

The man is a courageous and formidable leader, and mobiliser par excellence not easily intimidated by the antics of state power players.

Mr Gachagua was marked from the day of the handshake in March 2018.

He was among the first leaders to express doubt over the turn of events, especially the secrecy that went with it.

From the very beginning, he and other Jubilee leaders at the time could smell danger and they said as much.

It was due to his primacy around Dr Ruto that – and he has spoken about it – he was instructed to stop associating with Kenya’s second-in-command.

As expected, he vigorously refused and demanded to know why. Of course, no explanation was forthcoming, save for mere executive fiat. 

Before long, he was being investigated over alleged corruption.

Clearly, this was the beginning of many attempts to cut the tallest and strongest trees in Dr Ruto’s stable. But Mr Gachagua has remained strong.

And this is why the deputy presidential debate was do-or-die for the Azimio team.

It was supposed to resurrect the coalition party’s collapsed campaign in the mountain region.

It was meant to be Ms Karua’s coronation as the unofficial leader of Mt Kenya and the political wherewithal that would flood Azimio’s way.

They were confident that the caricature they had drawn of Mr Gachagua was all they needed.

Safeguard interests

But they bet wrong. It is the Gachagua they had arrogantly refused to acknowledge who came to the fore - debater, courageous and experienced administrator.

By the time the debate was over, it was not in jest that Azimio sympathisers were all over the place with: Give us the other Gachagua!

Azimio must definitely have been buoyed by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s activities the previous week. He had publicly declared that Ms Karua was his choice. 

The Head of State explained that he had chosen Ms Karua to safeguard the interests of the region after he retires from office in the next 15 days.

He also pointedly conceded that his supposed fight against corruption had flopped because he was ‘lenient’.

Again, he hoped that Azimio’s running mate would better his poor record in the fight against massive looting in government.

But all this is an Azimio strategy – if it could be called that – to show that Ms Karua, not Mr Odinga, is the real deal, especially in the Mt Kenya region.

It is a very bizarre, backhanded approach to wooing the region, a voting bloc that has refused to smell, leave alone bite, the Azimio offerings.

With Mr Odinga having slipped after attempting to climb the mountain, the region is ostensibly supposed to see, hear and vote for Ms Karua.

But unknown to Azimio, including the President, no baton can be handed over.

The baton moves with those who have the people’s momentum. And that is none other than Mr Gachagua.

The writer is in the William Ruto presidential campaign, [email protected]