Gachagua defends his push for Mount Kenya unity
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addresses congregants at Our Lady of Visitation Timau Catholic church in Buuri Constituency, Meru County, on June 2, 2024.
What you need to know:
- President William Ruto told leaders to shun politics of regional kingship.
- Mr Gachagua asked leaders from Mt Kenya region to name and shame the traitors.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has maintained that his call for regional unity was genuine, saying this would lead to national unity and development across the country.
Mr Gachagua said contrary to some leaders’ accusations that his unity call among Mt Kenya leaders was tribal, he was for Kenyans speaking in one voice first from the regions, which would cascade to the well-being of the nation.
During his Madaraka Day address, President William Ruto told leaders to shun politics of regional kingship, and asked them to unite.
The President said his administration would deliver development equally across the country regardless of how they voted in the 2022 general election.
But speaking on Sunday, June 2 at the Lady of Visitation Catholic Church in Timau, Buuri constituency in Meru County, the DP explained his call for regional unity, saying his interest was to see each region coming together first followed by national unity.
Supremacy battles
“When we call for regional unity, it is not that we want to be united against anybody or for any other reason. It is because unity brings about development since we are able to push our agenda. Unity in the region is very important and we should not be isolated for being united because that would be retrogressive. Why would somebody isolate us because we are united? Is unity a bad thing? We should not go to another election while divided and we don’t want to get there,” Mr Gachagua said.
He said when leaders in Kericho, Kiambu and Meru counties were fighting against their governors, he stepped in and brokered peace. He, however, noted that Meru County had not yet stabilised, with Governor Kawira Mwangaza and MCAs still engaged in supremacy battles.
The DP said that through unity in western Kenya, leaders were able to secure over Sh100 billion waivers on debts owned to the sugar sector, while leaders from the northern Kenya are speaking with the same voice, negotiating for the interests of their region.
“People from different parts of the country have peculiar interests that you discuss as a region and take them for negotiations at the national table,” he added.
“It is in everybody’s interest that all leaders work together. This is the only way that development will be realised. There was a problem in Nakuru and we sorted it out. If all regions are united we will seek partnerships and it will be easy for us to negotiate as a region. I am a peacemaker and under President William Ruto we’re all together,” the DP said.
Mr Gachagua recalled that when Kenya Kwanza won the election he was a bitter man because I had been wronged and fought a lot.
“But through prayers and with the assistance of my wife, Dorcas, I have forgiven them all. Don’t stab your brother on the back. Let’s embrace the culture of forgiveness among ourselves,” he added.
Mr Gachagua called for forgiveness between Governor Mwangaza and MCAs, saying all elected leaders must work together for any meaningful development to take place in a county.
Ms Mwangaza, her Laikipia counterpart Joshua Irungu, Buuri MP Mugambi Rindikiri, Senator Alexander Mundigi (Embu County), Meru Woman Rep Elizabeth Kailemia, MPs Moses Kirima (Imenti Central), Rahim Dawood (Imenti North), Mpuru Aburi(Tigania East), John Paul Mwirigi (Igembe South), Jayne Kihara (Naivasha), James Gakuya (Embakasi North), Wachira Karani (Laikipia West), George Koimburi (Juja), Kamande Mwafrika (Roysambu), Gachoki Gitari (Kirinyaga Central), Peter Kihungi (Kangema), Dorothy Ikiara (Nominated) and former Laikipia County MP Cate Waruguru accompanied the DP.
Meru MCAs led by Majority Leader Patrick Mutuma and Timau MCA Martin Muriungi, were also present.
Speaking on Saturday night in Nanyuki, Mr Gachagua asked leaders from Mount Kenya region to name and shame some local leaders being used by outside forces to scuttle his unity push in central Kenya.
A few traitors
He said the few traitors were guns for hire, but noted that the community had always had such characters right from the time of the Mau Mau war.
“The issue of sell-outs within our community is not something new. There were individuals who collaborated with the colonial masters for some short-term personal benefits instead of sacrificing for the greater good of the larger community,” he said.
Mr Gachagua reiterated his push for more allocation of resources through the one-man-one vote-one-shilling formula and termed Mount Kenya leaders opposed this push as working on the behest of enemies bent on causing disunity.
“Whenever they come visiting in the rural areas, let them explain their stand on the one-man-one-vote-one-shilling and if they support my bid to unite the mountain. Those who do not support and fail to accompany me whenever I am drumming up support for unity should be earmarked for voting out when the time comes,” he said.
The DP who was accompanied by over a dozen MPs drawn from Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Murang’a, Nyeri, Laikipia and Meru counties said he would not abandon his agenda of uniting the mountain so that the region could raise its stakes on the political bargaining table.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri who has differed with the DP on his approach in uniting the region, was conspicuously absent during the evening musical extravaganza at Old House Restaurant.
