Ever since ex-Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was impeached in October 2024 for corruption, abuse of office, and other felonious acts, the man from Mathira has been in the eye of the storm. He has ricocheted from one controversy to another.
Lately, the embattled leader of DCP has seen his political fortunes dwindle and nearly vaporise. Initially, after his humiliating fall from grace and power, Mr Gachagua went on a scorched-earth mission to tear down President William Ruto, his former boss. Spitting fire and bile with a ferocity and toxicity rarely witnessed in the republic, Mr Gachagua couldn’t breathe without uttering Dr Ruto’s name. To hear him tell it, President Ruto was the devil incarnate. It didn’t take long for his act to wear thin.
In his post-impeachment incarnation, Mr Gachagua put all his eggs in one basket – demonising President Ruto and alienating him from the people of Mount Kenya. His strategy was to lay siege to the Gikuyu, Meru, and Embu (Gema) nations. He later lassoed Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka to Gema to make a quartet of ethnic “cousins” with the Akamba. This concoction hasn’t worked as Mr Gachagua’s push for Gema ethnic kingship has sputtered. Where he hoped to stamp his authority in the region, his DCP has suffered huge losses in by-elections in stunning defeats. Bottom line – Mr Gachagua has turned out to be a paper tiger, especially in his own backyard. The imaginary scandals and revelations that he hoped to tar President Ruto with have proven “hot air.”
No winning political campaigns mature only on bile focused on one man. Both in direct language and colour-coded stereotypes, Mr Gachagua has proven to be incurably tribalistic. Large swathes of Kenyans have now come to see him as congenitally nativist. Just as he used to demonise Raila Odinga and the Luo community, Mr Gachagua has resorted to using the same tactics to attack other ethnic groups.
In fact, his political toolbox is so limited that it cannot fire any other weapon that is not loaded with tribal missiles. His quiver has no arrows that don’t scream ethnic bias. It has become clear to many Kenyans that Mr Gachagua is uniquely unqualified to lead this nation.
But it is Mr Gachagua’s duplicity, hypocrisy, and double standards that have laid waste to his political fortunes. He has been exposed as a man who lacks an ethical compass with a north star, or a principled character. He will say and do anything to paint President Ruto in the worst light. As such, his credibility has plummeted to sub-zero rankings. In political ratings, he dwells in the deepest of cellars. If this wasn’t clear, his interview on Royal Media’s Ramogi TV last laid bare his soft underbelly. Under intense questioning and sharpshooter fact-checking, Trevor Ombija cornered Mr Gachagua. Mr Gachagua squirmed and twisted in the hot seat as Mr Ombija landed blow after blow.
Until the Ombija interview, Mr Gachagua had managed to filibuster and bully his way through most journalists. Shockingly, most journalists have been shy to spar with him or correct his outright lies or misstatements. Not so Mr Ombija, who came armed with the best tools in the trade. He didn’t let Mr Gachagua get away with nothing. Mr Gachagua tried the old trick of playing interrogator. Mr Ombija didn’t bite. Instead, he came back more forcefully each time. Mr Gachagua cried foul and charged bias. Even so, nothing worked. By the end of one of the best interview sit-downs I have seen on Kenyan TV, Mr Gachagua was left defrocked, a mere shell of the man who’s been used to intimidate and bully journalists into submission.
As if the Ombija interview wasn’t enough catastrophe, a scandal involving Mr Gachagua and his handling of the estate of his late brother Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua, now threatens to completely politically put him in an awkward position. The allegations, which smack of family betrayal in the disposal of the late governor’s estate, paint a cruel and unflattering picture of the former DP. Family disputes about probate and estates are very stubborn and can collapse whatever reputation one has left. Whereas Mr Gachagua wants the public to believe that he’s holier-than-thou, these allegations paint a completely different picture. One can only hope that justice will be done on all sides. Mr Gachagua’s political duplicity and double standards are equally galling.
One of Mr Gachagua’s “songs” is how he was in the President’s “choir” of yes-men. He pleads this as defence for lying to Kenyans when he was DP. I have worked with President Ruto for a year now, and I can say without equivocation there’s no such “choir.” The President has a sharp mind and expects all those who work with him to minutely interrogate every fact on policy. Question – if Mr Gachagua lied, then how can anyone believe him now?
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua.
