What some Central region MPs took as a simple task of helping President William Ruto impeach his elected deputy Rigathi Gachagua has turned out to be their nightmare at the grassroots.
Mr Gachagua has openly urged his supporters in Mt Kenya to punish the MPs he has branded traitors for not “listening to the ground” that he says was against his removal from office and the hostility, if sustained, looks set to undermine their re-election in 2027.
The legislators have only complicated their situation further as they had earlier taken for granted public emotions by submitting to the president's orders and voting for the draconian Finance Bill, 2024.
The proposed law which contained a slew of unpopular taxes was however subsequently withdrawn following deadly Gen Z protests.
By voting to impeach Mr Gachagua, the MPs only further infuriated their constituents.
On Monday, Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge was the latest to face the wrath of angry constituents. Not even a heavy security ring around him could guarantee him a calm reception.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Nyeri Town MP Duncan Maina Mathenge.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Chants of msaliti (traitor) rent the air as he attempted to address the residents in Nyeri town even as he stood his ground shouting back that he would not be intimidated.
But with the crowd swelling and getting more agitated, Mr Mathenge had to leave the area.
This is not an isolated case as most of the region’s politicians who sided with President Ruto to depose Mr Gachagua are enduring harassment both in public spaces and on social media platforms.
Recently, some six elders congregated in Kigumo sub-county and declared a public curse against Murang’a Woman Rep Betty Maina who is a fierce critic of the former deputy president.
In the elaborate rituals, the elders led by Mzee Mungai Njama broke guards, cooking pots and calabashes wishing Ms Maina's political career to be crushed into smithereens.
An agitated Ms Maina responded, "Those who paid the people to curse me ended up cursing themselves.”
"It is not something that is going to end soon. We are not apologetic about it. It is high time leaders respected the opinion of voters. Public participation became a constitutional ingredient of governance decisions not by default," said former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri.
Mr Ngunjiri recalled the events of October 11, 2024--three days after the National Assembly had impeached Mr Gachagua-- in Bahati constituency where President Ruto’s allies were booed by mourners at a burial ceremony.
The burial at Bibilioni village where Bahati MP Irene Njoki was burying her brother, Henry Gachie, was turned into a platform to express displeasure with the Kenya Kwanza government.
Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika was forced to plead with mourners to let her read President Ruto’s message of condolence.
Some MPs led by George Kariuki (Ndia), Sabina Chege (nominated), Anne Wamuratha (Kiambu woman rep) and Rahab Mukami (Nyeri woman rep) had a hard time addressing the mourners who demanded their exclusion from the programme.
Nominated MP Sabina Chege during a press conference by Jubilee Parliamentary Group members in Nairobi on October 25, 2023.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, who has cut himself a niche as being among President Ruto's 'ground fixers', sat forlornly through the burial, coming out later to accuse some unnamed Mt Kenya politicians of financing the jeering.
"There are some few troublemakers who thrive on politics of tribalism who have given these people a few coins to cause trouble. We will not accept that and we must unite Kenya whatever it takes," Mr Sudi later said in a press statement.
The following day, Kinangop MP Kwenya Thuku was captured in a viral video being ejected from a bar in Kiambu by angry patrons.
Kiambu County police commander Mr Michael Muchiri on Tuesday confirmed that so far five people have since recorded statements at Kiambu Police Station regarding the incident.
President Ruto's economic advisor Moses Kuria was recently ejected from a Mugithi dance stage along Nairobi's Kamiti Road as he too was branded a traitor.
Mr Moses Kuria.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
On October 20 during Mashujaa Day celebrations, most Mt Kenya residents kept off the venues and the few who attended walked out when administrators rose to read the president's message.
For fear of the crowds, politicians who had voted to impeach Mr Gachagua also skipped the celebrations in their respective regions and those who supported him also boycotted in protest.
"The first person we should be citing as a hero is the president if he has managed to improve our lives. He has made us more desolate and is treating us with contempt.
"Then he impeaches our Gachagua for no reason other than contempt for us. Even if the president was here I would have booed and walked out on him," said Martin Nduati, 28, as he walked out of Ihura stadium in Murang'a.
At Kangangu grounds in Murang'a South, Mzee Warui Njuguna, 78, told Nation Africa "I specifically came here for no other reason but to walk out on the president's speech.”
“It is the only way I can show my contempt for his politics. It is my way of making it clear to him that I also want him impeached,” he added.
Last Sunday, Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru tried to interest Mr Gachagua to help the cornered politicians for the sake of unity.
"I beg you our people's deputy president to find it in your heart to forgive these leaders who were threatened and coerced to vote against you. They are sorry and would love to start serving the people who elected them," Mr Gathiru said at the Priesthood Ministries in Nairobi's Kahawa West where Mr Gachagua had attended Sunday service.
But in his address, Mr Gachagua hit out at the politicians who threw him under the bus. "They simply decided to get lost even when we kept on reminding them there was a price to pay for not listening to the people".
Mr Gachagua urged his supporters to "run a register of the renegades...in preparation for 2027 General Election when you will do the necessary against them.” “Sowing comes with harvesting and you reap what you sow,” he added.
This came as some Mt Kenya crooners confided to Nation.Africa that they are being approached by some of the cornered politicians to compose songs in their praise for pay.
"There is a Murang'a county female politician who has offered me Sh100,000 to compose a song about her bravery and progressive leadership. She has promised me that the song will be played prominently on airwaves," said Martin Kabari, a popular secular artist.
"This is the nightmare...We had been told that removing Gachagua would be seamless...that ours was to just vote against him and within no time there would be a new DP from the Mountain," said one of the MPs from Nyeri County.
The MP revealed to Nation.Africa that Mt Kenya MPs and Senators had proposed to the president that they be allowed to vote against the motion as a survival tactic and since their numbers could not scuttle it.
"We pointed out to the president that even if the 68 elected MPs and 10 senators from Mt Kenya opposed the impeachment motion we could not save him and we would have saved our faces," the MP claimed.
The response from the President's men, the MP revealed, was that State House needed not to appear as hell-bent on using the rest of the country to hound Mr Gachagua out of office.
The powers that be needed the plot to appear as a national consensus supported even by leaders from Mt Kenya.
This excuse is however not helping them as there are colleagues who initially were among the 291 members of the National Assembly who had signed the special motion to impeach Mr Gachagua but read the signs of time to later vote against it.
MPs Rahab Mukami (Nyeri) and Geoffrey Wandeto (Tetu) voted against the motion while Antony Wainaina (Kieni) was absent during the final vote.
Nyandarua Senator Mr John Methu told Nation.Africa that "anyone who did not listen to the ground should live with the consequences of their choice".
He posed: "Those of us who listened to the ground and acted accordingly are not in hiding and are not afraid to interact with our supporters. Their sycophancy has even affected their faith since they cannot even attend church service".
