Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
From almost the time former Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua assumed the lofty office of Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, the arrogant one-term legislator fancied himself Co-President. Blinded by ambition, and lacking strategy, Mr Gachagua proved to the nation that he had read neither The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, nor the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
Had he done so, he would’ve played a longer game, and never tried to prematurely unsheathe his sword. But his bravado and braggadocio proved too much for his unlettered mind. Months after his ouster by impeachment from the second-highest perch of power, there’s no indication that Mr. Gachagua has taken the time to read the two famous books.
I don’t wish anyone ill health, even if I vehemently disagree with them. So, I don’t know whether Mr Gachagua faked a sudden crumbling of his heart amidst the impeachment proceedings in the Senate, or whether he got weak-kneed after playing Mr Tough Guy. Whatever the case, the man from Mathira who for weeks had been breathing fire, cut a pathetic figure as sought public sympathy outside Karen Hospital. One cardinal rule from the school of hard knocks is they must never see you sweat. But every Kenyan saw him do just that – shed tears, whether crocodile, or real. Beneath the tough exterior, Mr Gachagua proved to be an empty shell, a paper tiger. So, who’s Mr Gachagua?
In his heyday as DP, Mr Gachagua claimed to “own” State House, declaring at one point, that he had set traps all round it to lasso ODM’s Raila Odinga if he tried to breach its environs. Guess who’s laughing now? You bet against Mr Odinga to your detriment. The man from Bondo has been the gravity of Kenyan politics for decades. Today, Mr Gachagua can’t even see the sketches of State House unless he’s a motorist along the roads around it. The House on the Hill is a distant memory to his noggin. He never thought this could be a possibility when he engaged in acts of self-immolation against his boss. He should’ve taken a leaf from the book of Daniel arap Moi, the self-styled professor of politics.
Gema kingpin
Mr Gachagua was impeached with a near-unanimous vote by MPs as confirmed by an equally large number of Senators. It wasn’t even close. Mr Gachagua wasn’t impeached because MPs didn’t like his visage. No – they sent him packing for being a naked nativist, a tribal bigot sitting atop the state.
It seemed his life’s dream was to be a GEMA kingpin. He unabashedly told Kenyans to jump into Lake Victoria if they couldn’t accept this fact. He said he had no apologies to make. That’s how Mr Gachagua became a dead man walking, politically speaking. In all likelihood, he will never hold public office again in the republic, his wishful thinking notwithstanding. It’s over for him.
Mr Gachagua is also piggish. You would’ve thought that he had learnt his lesson. Once out of office, he’s took over from where he left. He’s continued with his vituperative bile against his former boss. But that’s not all. He’s positioned himself as the defender and champion of GEMA.
To do so, he set up a fake State House called Wamunyoro. It’s here where he plays tribal chieftain of the Agikuyu with their Meru and Embu cousinage. Recently, he orchestrated the inclusion of the Akamba in this tribal kraal. But the Meru, Embu, and Kamba are just condiments in the new-look GEMA. Methinks Mr Gachagua wants to use this outfit and Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, PLP’s Martha Karua, and DAP-K’s Eugene Wamalwa to wrest power from his former boss.
So, as Mr Gachagua imagines it, Wamunyoro is a parallel center of power to President Ruto’s State House. The only problem is that Mr Gachagua can’t be king. He can only hope to be kingmaker. But can he make Mr. Musyoka king? My crystal ball says nyet. Who wants to be held hostage to a tribal bigot even if he can make you king? Personally, I don’t even see how Mr Musyoka can sit across Mr Gachagua, a self-declared tribalist. Will his political base, which is largely Kamba, stand for it, and for more continued sojourn in the political wilderness? At what point would the Akamba political elite revolt from a Gachagua-led political resurrection? Will they agree to such political vassalage?
So, if Mr. Gachagua can’t succeed as kingmaker, what’s to become of Wamunyoro? A village chieftain’s hutment made of bamboo and mugumo trees? For how long would political leaders like Mr Musyoka continue to pay homage to such a hutment? Will even the Agikuyu themselves and their long-suffering cousins – the Embu and the Meru – contemplate going to Mr Gachagua on a bended knee? I doubt it. The other day, he said he had written a will for GEMA. How can he tie his own demise to those communities? The hubris bogles the mind.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
