Currently walking a political minefield that might see him impeached unless he plays his cards well, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua faces Mt Kenya Sunday, August 4 in a live interview on all area vernacular media stations.
The interview comes in the backdrop of serious upheavals in his second in command office characterized of many battlefronts in the past two years that have left him walking a tightrope.
According to university don Macharia Munene, Mr Gachagua current path towards 2027 reelection bid is not rosy at all and must be trodden with all the care possible.
"This is now a bigger problem than it was when Mr Gachagua was shadowboxing Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. We now have opposition chief Raila Odinga inside that government controlling six powerful dockets and still agitating for more," Prof Munene said.
Mr Odinga has since negotiated his way into government where his allies have bagged the National Treasury, Mining, Cooperatives, Energy, East Africa affairs and the Attorney General dockets.
As he faces the Mt Kenya nation that consists of Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities spread across the country, 10 salient issues have emerged and which will keep many glued to their screens, others on their transistor radios to get answers.
"Our people will be eager to know what will happen to our stake in this government that we founded with 87 percent of our votes hence giving the president 47 percent of his authority. The person who we sent to form the opposition has been brought in and we agree. We have no problem. What we need to know is our exact space," said Nyeri governor Mr Mutahi Kahiga, a close ally of the DP, and who is slowly turning out to be Mr Gachagua’s political spokesperson.
Mr Kahiga added that "we want to know how we will keep off political bickering and concentrate on service delivery as we wait for that moment when Mr Odinga will break-off for 2027 competition".
The governor said he expects Mr Gachagua to pacify Mt Kenya emotions regarding Mr Odinga's entry into government, a move he said has made President Ruto's ratings nosedive in the region in a scale likely to complicate his 2027 reelection bid.
Nominated MP Ms Sabina Chege said the Deputy President should rally the region behind agitating for development instead of dwelling too much on politics of personalities.
"We are in a situation where the man I was trying to push up the mountain but failed in a major way has entered the government. Those of us who were supporting him were profiled as enemies. Now we are all in the government and we must be whipped to love one another," she told Nation on Friday at Gatanga constituency.
Gatanga MCA Mr John Kibaiya said the region is waiting for hard talk to security officers regarding creeping back of illicit brews in the region.
"The Deputy President must face our security officers and warn them that the gains that have been recorded since the war started in March this year have started getting lost," he said.
Mr Kibaiya said "we are not ready for a region to accept killers of our economy and health in the name of liqour trade to come back into our region...Gachagua must order zero tolerance against this culture of death".
Kikuyu Council of elders Mr Wachira Kiago said the Deputy President must remain cognisant that "we are more concerned with wealth creation endeavours instead of political sloganeering".
To that end, Mr Kiago said the second in command must ensure that "we are made to understand in clear terms about how longer we are going to continue waiting for the agricultural reforms as we were promised in the economic charters that the region signed with president Ruto as he hunted for votes".
Mr Kiago said the region is not ready to waste five years in political tussles that do not count in improving quality of life for area people.
The fifth issue revolves around political stability of the region now that it appears President’s relation with his Deputy has been growing cold than warmer.
“Most importantly is about our place in the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) where many have expressed reservations as to whether it is our house. We want our people rallied to the fact that we have controlling shares in this party, we remain stuck in it but carefully crafting fallback plan,” said Embakasi North MP James Gakuya.
Mr Gachagua’s case is made complicated in that, of all major actors in the newly reconstituted government, he is the only one without a political party that he can use to negotiate with as well herd his support base to should push come to shove.
Naivasha MP Jane Kihara told Nation that the issue of reconstituting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) remains key interest for the Mt Kenya voting block.
“In the circus that we are seeing in the formation of IEBC restructuring, it has not been lost to us that we as the biggest voting block has no representative in the selection panel that has since been stopped by the courts from assuming office. This is not something we should take lightly,” she said.
Ms Kihara said “there is no way a block that today forms 47 percent of government and more than 15 percent of opposition can miss out on such an important referee of determining who forms government and who goes to opposition”.
President Ruto has insisted that the country is ready for a presidency that belongs to all and ideal cabinet is that of national unity in a broad-based government, leaving elections to be relevant in the other five contests in a General Election.
Kiambu senator Mr Karungo Thang’wa said the region is agitating to know when the one man one shilling one vote formula of resource sharing and electoral representation will be implemented.
This is a matter that Mr Gachagua has picked as his core agendas and it is geared that the impeachment pressure surrounding him is a plot to scare him to back down.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has since dismissed the one man one shilling mantra as divisive, discriminatory and a threat to national cohesion.
The eighth issue is about how Mr Gachagua will actualize and live true to his agitation of becoming area kingpin.
“We have a cohesion problem as a region. We expect Mr Gachagua to shed more light on plans to convene by close of this month in Nyeri for healing and unity prayers. We are also looking into ways of reconciling fully with the Kenyatta family so that by 2027 we will be firmly cemented in unity of purpose,” he said.
With an uncertain future of the region in the UDA, Mr Gachagua will also be expected to offer snippets into the future regarding 2027 game plan as many go paranoid about possibility that president Ruto might go for alternative contest alliances.
Another cause for concern is why Mt Kenya is sinking into lawlessness of gangs that use mob justice as policing tool.
“We want Mr Gachagua to tell us why Mt Kenya people have lost faith with security agents to a point they are resorting to even raiding police stations and forcibly releasing suspects and murdering them. That is anarchy,” said long serving administrator Mr Joseph Kaguthi.
Mr Kaguthi said the region has become notorious of lynching mobs that even murder we elderly women after accusing them of being witches.
Mostly, lynch mobs murder those they accuse of being sex pests, murderers, livestock and crop thieves as well as those accused of sorcery.
Are the region’s shares safe in Ruto government? How does the region treat Raila Odinga and his lieutenants? Why are killer brews coming back and security officers opening bars despite order to keep off the trade? What became of the agricultural reforms as promised in economic charters? If Ruto takes away his UDA party whose elections have been suspended, where would we belong? Boundary delimitation: Will the region new constituencies? Which way One man one shilling debate? How will you unite those who are fighting you with those supporting you What way 2027? Why is Mt Kenya sinking into lawlessness of mob justice?
