The 45-day conclave by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at his Wamunyoro home is shaping up as a key moment in deciding the political direction that the Mt Kenya region will take in next year’s General Elections.
Conversations with various sources in the discussions reveal a number of emerging developments, among them the push for Mr Gachagua to vie for the presidency unless the courts finally rule him unfit to hold public office in his impeachment case now at the appellate court.
The conclave, which started on June 16, will end on July 31. Over that duration, Mr Gachagua has been receiving various delegations, including those from Mt Kenya, Nairobi, and the Maa community.
On Saturday, Mr Gachagua said the conclave will, in the end, come up with a report, which he said he will then discuss with former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left) welcomes leaders at his Wamunyoro home in Nyeri County on May 4, 2025.
Photo credit: Gitonga Marete | Nation Media Group
“When this conclave concludes, I will compile a report that I will take to Uhuru Kenyatta for consultations. Uhuru Kenyatta will advise me on the way forward. I will brief him on what people have told me. I and Uhuru will not repeat the 2022 mistake where we took the community in different ways,” Mr Gachagua said on Saturday when he met community leaders from Oljororok constituency.
“This conclave is a community and allies consultation forum to be told how it intends to be led into 2027. What it seeks as a bare minimum. What interests to pursue. The government and governance they want,” he went on.
But even as he laid out the path for the future, it is emerging that Mr Gachagua’s key supporters in the conclave want him to at some point abandon the United Opposition consensus-building and vie for the presidency, etched on hopes that he will win the impeachment case or it drags to remain pending full determination all the way to the Supreme Court.
Lawyer Geoffrey Kahuthu argues that the hope has a legal backing since there is hope that as long as the impeachment case is live in court, Mr Gachagua is eligible to vie for public office.
“We have the 2022 Mike Mbuvi Sonko case who, despite being impeached as Nairobi governor in 2020, wanted to vie for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat. The High Court ruled him eligible as long as he had a court case challenging the impeachment and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) was ordered to receive his nomination papers,” he said.
In the Sonko case, Justices Olga Sewe, Stephen Githinji and Ann Ong’injo ruled on July 13, 2022 that it was improper for IEBC to refuse admitting his candidature on grounds that the impeachment case was pending at the Supreme Court, arguing that there were no grounds to block him.
They said that blocking Mr Sonko violated Articles 20, 27 and 38 of the Constitution. However, two days later, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr Sonko had properly been impeached and the IEBC retracted its permission for him to contest for the Mombasa governorship.
That is the argument that advocate Timothy Mwangi presented at the Wamunyoro conclave on June 21, arguing that jurisprudence was on the side of Mr Gachagua’s presidential candidature.
“The first round at the High Court that upheld Mr Gachagua’s impeachment took two years. In the appeal that has now been lodged, it has 46 petitions. The case mostly is in the control of the appellant. If he wins the appeal, the respondents will counter appeal, hence more delays. If Mr Gachagua loses, he moves to the Supreme Court. The General Election is about 12 months away,” said Mr Mwangi.
Asked on the matter last week, Mr Gachagua told the Nation that his candidature is among the most passionate debates in the conclave even when he himself is for the idea of opposition unity, deliberations, consensus and naming of a joint candidate.
“I do not want to engage in this conclave debate because there will be a conclusive report that reconciles all the opinions fronted. But we agreed that I am the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) presidential candidate who, unless dictated otherwise by consensus or by court ruling, there will be no other way,” Mr Gachagua told the Nation on July 4.
At the same time, Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago told the Nation that the Mt Kenya community has been pushed by President William Ruto’s administration to start thinking inwards instead of outwards.
Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua speaks to the media at the party offices in Nairobi on July 10, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“In 2022, Mt Kenya handed over her votes to Dr Ruto (87 per cent) and to Raila Odinga (12 per cent) in the name of thinking outwards as nationalists. Dr Ruto took that power and converted it to a weapon against us. He impeached the mobiliser of that huge endorsement and commenced a narrative that we are tribal,” Mr Kiago said.
He said the pressure for Mr Gachagua to run for President is justified because the Mt Kenya communities are looking for political and economic security as a bloc controlled by one of their own.
He added that it is in search of that security that Mt Kenya boundaries were culturally expanded to include Akamba — who today belong to Mt Kenya South.
“That move has expanded the Mt Kenya vote count to rise from eight million to 11 million. That also tells you Mt Kenya identifies Mr Kalonzo Musyoka as one of our principals alongside Mr Gachagua,” he said. “So, if unity talks fail, we will fly with either Mr Gachagua or Mr Musyoka.”
According to Kigumo MP Joseph Munyoro, the Mt Kenya region has come to realise that the most ideal power is that which is exercised in Parliament and not at State House.
“For us to have numbers in Parliament, we must have a control centre vying for the presidency. Mt Kenya can vie aiming at winning significant control of both the National Assembly, the Senate, and county governments in our strongholds. The other options are mathematical where we can force a rerun or a post-election handshake like how Raila Odinga used to survive. We must end up with someone whose hand will be shaken. And that person is Mr Gachagua,” he said.
Naivasha MP Jane Kihara told the Nation that the most ideal situation “is where we get good partners and agree on a joint presidential candidate.”
“But we cannot be on the negotiation table forever waiting for that workable deal,” she added.
Ms Kihara also said it is of great importance that all principals treated Mt Kenya for the value it has in inducing winning numbers.
Kipipiri MP Wanjiku Muhia said: “We must, first of all, appreciate that Mr Gachagua is the most visible principal in Mt Kenya region then agree that we have other principals like Wiper Patriotic Front’s Mr Musyoka and Jubilee Party’s Dr Fred Matiang’i, who is being fronted by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as actors in Western region who include Mr George Natembeya, Mr Edwin Sifuna and Eugene Wamalwa.”
“Our prayer is that they sit down and agree on who is best suited to be our joint presidential candidate. If they won’t agree, there is a General Election coming where we will field Mr Gachagua and wait for the outcome: be it a rerun, a post-election handshake or what else,” added Ms Muhia. “But [we must] work hard to bring in numbers to Parliament in DCP.”
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu told the Nation that DCP insiders, more so the hardliners, want Mr Gachagua to consider himself as the undisputed presidential candidate whose surrender to another candidate must be as a last resort.
“To imagine that out of dubious considerations he will be boxed into surrender so that he can hand over his targeted eight million voters to others is not acceptable,” Mr Nyutu said.
“We want other principals to be serious and negotiate with Mr Gachagua on solid grounds that are not deceptive. Otherwise, we will field Mr Gachagua and face the consequences,” he said.
Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) Party Leader Rigathi Gachagua (second right) addressing a press briefing at the SKM Centre on April 15, 2026. With him are (from left) Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Fred Matiangi and Democratic Action Party-Kenya (DAP-K) Party Leader Eugene Wamalwa.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
Mr Nyutu added that there are emerging voices that are coercing Mr Gachagua to accept defectors from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party in the name of uniting the Mountain.
“That is another pressure those of us who are determined to see Mr Gachagua and DCP succeed must block at all costs. We will not admit the traitors who have been cheering the government as it impeached him, followed him all over with violence unleashed by goons and rogue police, clapped as government loyalists insulted and demeaned him… in the name of uniting Mt Kenya. Let us split, the divide being the community patriots and traitors,” he said.
The Nation understands that there are also emerging conversations about locking out other parties than DCP from Mt Kenya due to stamp authority and ensure influence comes from one centre.
Mr Gachagua told the Nation that the conclave dossier so far is about establishing political and economic security for the Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and Kamba communities for the next 100 years.
“The delegations have told me that the community must always belong to a political party, negotiate as a bloc and establish a pool of future leaders from our young Turks. The debate about my candidature is informed in blocking future risks of betrayal, persecution and isolation,” he said.
Another insider talk emerging from the conclave is that Mr Gachagua is set to hold a meeting with retired president Uhuru Kenyatta when he finally gets out.
