Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
The fallout from Sunday’s church meeting that President William Ruto attended in Nyeri with his deputy Rigathi Gachagua absent deepened with allies of the deputy president alleging a plot to impeach him has been revived.
Mr Gachagua’s allies alleged attempts to portray the deputy president as having snubbed the president, adding the latest development following last week’s declaration by some Mt Kenya MPs that Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure is their link to the executive betray the schemes against him.
They accused National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah and newly appointed president's economic advisor Mr Moses Kuria among those scheming for the deputy president’s downfall.
The photograph of an empty seat presumed to have been reserved for the Deputy President next to President Ruto at the church function in Nyeri has sparked controversy, as Mr Gachagua at the time was at the church service in Kirinyaga.
It prompted Mr Kuria to post on X on Sunday that "this is the last time this seat will be vacant. I swear.”
On Monday, Maragua MP Mary wa Maua said "that clearly coming from the president's advisor means more than the words.”
Referring to a revival of a plot to impeach the deputy president that had been discussed openly until the President ended the debate a month ago, the MP added: “They should make haste and bring it on.”
“We are ready, we are up to the task and we will not buy that fear. If they want to cripple their man in Mt Kenya so be it,” Ms Wa Maua said.
Embakasi North MP James Gakuya and Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang'wa also insisted that the impeachment scheme is back alleging it was being orchestrated from high offices.
Mr Thang'wa on Monday told Nation.Africa that the recent move by some Mt Kenya leaders to pick Prof Kindiki as their link to President Ruto's government is the clearest sign that the impeachment scheme is back.
Mr Thang'wa wondered how "legislators who have Ichung'wa as their link to the president by virtue of being their House leader can transfer that responsibility to Kindiki unless it is for purposes of passing out a message of impeachment against the DP".
The Senator nevertheless thanked Mr Ichung'wah "for being the most valuable campaigner for the deputy president since in his reckless statements he is uniting Mt Kenya in favour of the second in command".
Some close aides of the deputy president claimed their boss had been set up for embarrassment over Sunday’s church fiasco.
"The background of the matter is that the President was to be in both the Kirinyaga and Nyeri events. The plan was that they would attend the first church until around 12pm, and then join the 2nd one in Nyeri for the launch of the Archdiocese," one of the aides told Nation.Africa.
However, the source added, the President first went to Nairobi for a church service where his allies attacked the DP threatening him with impeachment.
"The president further went to Nyeri earlier than the DP expected - which meant that the DP would have had to leave the Kirinyaga church in the middle of mass - which would have been very disrespectful to the Catholic faithful in a determined scheme to embarrass our boss," the source further claimed.
However, the president's side said that was not the case.
"It was a clear case of time management that went out of hand. The president had arrived from Germany at 6am and started off his day's schedule at the Nairobi church before setting off to Nyeri," read a statement from the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
It added that "it is the president who delegated the Kirinyaga church function to Mr Gachagua hence none boycotting the other.”
However, former Kiambu governor Ferdinard Waititu wondered why the President had sent Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru with a Sh2 million contribution to the church service yet the DP was attending.
"That is why we find claims that the president delegated the Kirinyaga function to his deputy to be absurd. If it were the case, he would also have given Mr Gachagua the donation," Waituti added.
At the church in Nairobi in the presence of Dr Ruto, Mr Ichung'wa cited a biblical verse that is at the center of the latest political storm.
Mr Ichung'wah urged the president to "with immediate effect do away with the snake that is clinging on your hand preventing you to achieve what you were purposed to do for the country".
Mr Waititu wondered why the President sat and watched as Ichung'wah literally ripped apart the DP "if not a clear suggestion that he supports impeachment scheme and naming of Kindiki as the alternative principal assistant.”
"This is not the first time Ichung'wah has attacked the DP directly in Ruto’s presence. The President has never corrected or rebuked him. His supporters cannot say they are responding to Gachagua since none in our camp attacks the President. We only attack and challenge his supporters to stop disrespecting the DP," the former governor added.
Mr Waititu claimed the president has effectively been set up by the likes of Ichung'wah and Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri against Mt Kenya people "and he should not lie to himself that he is gaining any ground, rather, is losing it pretty fast.”
Mr Kiunjuri on Monday told Nation.Africa that Mr Gachagua should completely be isolated from any development based conversation, claiming "we are not discussing him for any other purpose apart from isolating him to play his politics as we pursue development.”
"There is no way 90 percent of elected leaders in the Mountain can unanimously say they have issues with the DP and we fail to ask ourselves whether you can be out of such huge favour for nothing," Mr Kiunjuri said.
He said those who support Prof Kindiki are extending an olive branch to those in Gachagua's camp "because we are not politically driven but issue based and focused on negotiating on behalf of our people for the national cake".
“No one is stopping him from calling leaders and exercising leadership but so far he has not called any meetings to discuss issues about Mt Kenya and efforts to have him do so have been met with resistance,” Mr Kiunjuri added.
Mr Kiunjuri said "if Gachagua's relationship with the president is completely broken, people are not interested in getting into the circus but want to focus on development...reason why we want Mr Kindiki to fill the void".
He said Kindiki's mandate is to focus on budget allocation, common messaging on government projects and development both done and those upcoming.
"With only two budgets remaining ahead of the next election, the MPs are focused on having Mt Kenya issues included in financing plans instead of bickering about an individual...where the deputy president is busy politicking hence not reliable to advance our cause," he said.
Former Laikipia woman rep Cate Waruguru wondered how the President is quiet as MPs say they want Kindiki to be their bridge to the executive.
"As a leader who has served three terms in parliament, the President knows that Parliament is the ‘connection’ between the people and the govt. Why isn’t he correcting the MPs and reminding them that the connection between the Govt/Executive and the people is Parliament (where they were elected to serve) and cannot be one of his CSs?" Ms Waruguru posed.
Kikuyu Council of elders’ chairman Wachira Kiago on Monday also said a community with no respect for command structures is bound to fail in presenting itself as cohesive.
“President Ruto was never elected so that he can be praised and worshiped to develop our region as we are being told by some of our brothers and sisters,” Mr Kiago said.
“It is our right to be handed unconditional governance benefits commensurate with our needs hence why we should be spared talks about forming factional caucuses for the purpose of begging the president to develop our region,” he added.
Political analyst Gasper Odhiambo says "it is most likely that the president is in a precarious position of arbitrating local politics where tribal politics connotes him as a Mountain outsider".
Mr Odhiambo argues "the nature of our politics is that every region has its owners and lack of a clear cut gatekeeper in Mt Kenya region might be troubling the president".
“The president certainly does not need this noise in Mt Kenya, the country does not need it and of course it is bad for the economy....but in Mt Kenya the president has no political voice,” he argues.
“The president cannot dare rebuke the Ichung'wah wing since it is brandishing parliamentary numbers as scarecrow while the deputy president is countering by brandishing voting muscle,” he reckons.
Mr Odhiambo says "the president rules through elected leaders and gets elected through voters hence why Mt Kenya presents himself with a delicate situation that gives him a major headache".
