Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua's allies intensified their feud on Sunday (September 22) amid claims by an MP that the motion to impeach the deputy president was being fast-tracked.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba alleged a plan to table the motion as early as next week.
“It is unfortunate that the President has teamed up with his new friends from ODM and as early as next week, they plan to bring an impeachment motion against the DP. We want to ask the President to respect the votes he received from Mt Kenya region and stop any ill plans against his deputy,” said Ms Wamuchomba.
She spoke on Sunday at the PEFA church in Thika, Kiambu County, where DP allies came to his defence.
Separately, Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa claimed that the deputy president “impeached himself one year ago” adding the MPs would only formalise the ouster through a vote in Parliament "before the end of this year."
“No MP has been bribed. We have only decided to fight tribalism in Kenya and have said that before the end of this year, Rigathi Gachagua, the deputy president of Kenya will celebrate Christmas as an ordinary citizen so that he can continue to advance his regional meetings,” said Mr Barasa.
The deputy president's allies said they were ready to fight the planned impeachment motion against Mr Gachagua.
Embakasi North counterpart James Gakuya lamented that it was unfortunate how Mt Kenya region ignored former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s advice against voting in President Ruto.
“Mt Kenya defied Uhuru and agreed to pay Ruto his political debt. We must always learn that it is fair to always pay goodness for goodness.
Past friends
“I want to tell the President not to forget about his past friends just because he has found new friends. Your new friends today, were your enemies. Don’t forget about your past friends who helped you,” the MP said.
Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru Mejja Donk said it was a sad state of affairs that in Kenya the major problem for leaders is keeping their promises.
“Uhuru warned us against voting for Ruto. He said within two years we would start lamenting. It is unfortunate that at the moment we are not speaking about development but the atrocities you (President Ruto) want to commit against your deputy and the people of Mt Kenya,” Mr Gathiru said.
He went on: “You have power and everything but we have God in heaven.
You cannot continue lying to the people of Kenya. On the planned impeachment motion, bring it on, we are ready to deal with it in Parliament but remember before you do that, there must be public participation county by county.”
Prof Macharia Munene of United States International University (Usiu) argues that right from the day of his inauguration, the DP has been making goofs.
“If Governor Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri) is right, it was Ruto who told him to talk about shares. It was not his idea. He therefore never had any shares; probably just nominal ones. He misunderstood this reality,’ Prof Munene says.
He argues that the current implosion in Kenya Kwanza government had been foreseen.
“Nothing new is happening that had not been predicted. Obsessed with being accepted as the leader of the Mountain, he simply did not hear or bother to pay attention to those who tried to warn him of what might happen.
“Although he is doing a good job of rousing some sympathy for the expected tribulations, the sympathy is most likely transient,” adds Prof Munene.
Political analyst Dismas Mokua argues that a number of variables and factors have created turbulence for the DP.
“It appears the case that the deputy president’s security of tenure gave him the impression that he was not merely a deputy president but a co-president. Two, the presidency is a symbol of national unity and as a key pillar, the deputy president must behave in a manner consistent with the national unity philosophy. DP Gachagua’s insatiable appetite and love for Mt Kenya to the chagrin of the rest of Kenya may have rubbed citizens and stakeholders the wrong way,” Mr Mokua told Nation.Africa.
He noted that while Kenyans appreciate the fact that leaders use tribal numbers for political capital, they have valid expectations that national leaders will remain sensitive to national and public interests as captured in Article 10 and Chapter Six of the 2010 Constitution.
Being sabotaged
During a televised interview on Citizen TV last Friday, the DP lamented how he was being sabotaged from discharging his mandate, including being blocked from accessing the president’s diary.
He also talked of plans to impeach him, alleging late-night meetings and bribery to have MPs introduce his impeachment in Parliament.
Mr Mokua describes the DP’s lamentations as a statement of contradictions.
“He indicated that he doesn’t have a global view of government while he chairs Cabinet sub-committee meetings. This role as chairman places him in the middle of Statecraft. The President asked DP Gachagua via an executive order to preside over the coffee, tea and milk sectors. This is a heavy responsibility and Kenyans are looking forward to the scoreboard.”
A section of Mt Kenya MPs who have turned against the DP view him as “overbearing and unnecessarily antagonistic, while those from the Rift Valley see him “as a man who wanted to share equal powers with and even to blackmail the president.”
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, an ally of President Ruto insists that the formation of the broad-based government which co-opted members of the opposition ODM party “was as a result of the DP’s camp proving stubborn and began undermining the President.”
He said President Ruto should continue to share his government by giving out the Principal Secretary (PS) positions to Mr Odinga’s camp and other Kenyans.
“The government is now broad. We have shared positions with ODM. Those who contributed to this kind of government were those inside it who expressed bad manners for the huge desire for more positions and issued a lot of demands and threats.
Political wings
“Let them now not complain because this country belongs to all of us and it’s time to ensure regional balance in all appointments including Principal Secretaries positions,” said Mr Sudi.
Attempts to clip the DP’s political wings even further became more evident last week after legislators from the Mt Kenya region as well as the Njuri Ncheke elders endorsed Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki as their spokesman.
Analysts also opine that the president’s men and emissaries started courting Mr Odinga’s constituency especially Luo Nyanza after Mr Gachagua proved difficult on his boss.
ODM National Chairperson Gladys Wanga said Mr Gachagua’s share-holding mantra was his major undoing and the president’s move to bring on board all Kenyans was his Waterloo.
“My reading of this very bitter rant by Mr Gachagua is that he had come out well in advance informing Kenyans that only shareholders would benefit from President Ruto’s government but now it is emerging that other people who are considered non-shareholders are participating in this company called Kenya, as it should be,” said Ms Wanga who is also the Homa Bay Governor.
ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire said the DP must rise above party politics, regional grouping and tribal considerations.
“He should be a unifying factor, inspirational and driving force of the country into the future," he said.
“In the current times given the poor performance of the economy, tribalism and regional imbalances in terms of development, the president needs somebody conscious and humane, fully aware the country is for Kenyans and not regional control or tribal domination, but Kenya for Kenyans, for their welfare and security,” Mr Bosire told Nation.Africa.
