President William Ruto and the politics of Mount Kenya region.
Mt Kenya leaders avoiding hostile residents after they helped President William Ruto impeach former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua are now planning a grand comeback in the region.
Those who voted at the National Assembly and the Senate to send Mr Gachagua packing have been facing hostile crowds in public spaces, including entertainment joints. So bad is the situation that Gatundu North MP Elijah Kinyanjui, who was vocal in campaigning for Gachagua's impeachment, has since publicly said, "...I come from people who never vote for anyone for a second term...I am not worried at all as I know I will not be voted back.”
Most of them have locked comment sections of their social media platforms to escape cyberbullying from irked voters, a situation spreading panic ahead of the 2027 polls. Now leaders who stood by Mr Gachagua have alleged a state scheme to persecute the former deputy president further to offer a lifeline for those who hounded him out of office to come to his rescue in a well-choreographed scheme.
According to Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu, one of the tactics to be employed is to allege the now popular Gachagua would be arrested to have local leaders, including his critics, rush to his defence to win voters’ favour.
“I hear there is a comeback plan being devised to be rolled out that entails sponsored propaganda that Gachagua will be arrested and charged in court,” Mr Nyutu said. “Those in Mt Kenya who sanctioned his impeachment will then come out to launch his defence, urging the President Ruto regime not to persecute Gachagua further, and in the process appear to be fighting for him.”
This is a trick many area MPs used after they voted for the punitive Finance Bill 2024, which Mr Gachagua opposed. When the public expressed fury against those who passed it leading to the Gen Z riots that saw the President drop it, those in Mt Kenya who had voted for the bill started defending Mr Gachagua against the impeachment debate that had started earlier. Kieni MP Njoroge Wainaina led the battalion that announced “we have even gone to State House and demanded from the President that he abandon Gachagua impeachment.”
National Assembly Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung'wah at the time said, “We are not interested in impeaching Gachagua...that debate is defeatist and there is no motion I know of that intends to remove him from office.”
Many more joined the bandwagon defending Gachagua, hence winning back the Mt Kenya voters and another wave of free interaction set in, until two months later when they employed supersonic speed to impeach him. Kirinyaga Woman Rep Njeri Maina, who did not support the impeachment, on Saturday told the Nation that “this time round those who sneaked out of the ground’s popular stand in favour of Gachagua and impeached him are planning a comeback through deceit.”
She said she is aware of the plan that seeks to start praising and pampering Gachagua while at the same time pretending to be his defender against further persecution. “They are bragging all over that we forget easily like warthogs and it is a matter of time before they win back the ground for themselves and President Ruto,” Ms Njeri said.
She said the Mountain right now knows Mr Gachagua's friends and it will be hard to hoodwink voters through deceit.
Mr Gachagua had given area renegades up to December to align with the region's political sentiments or risk being swept to oblivion in 2027. But it is his downfall that has come sooner, but at a cost for his opponents who are finding it hard to reconcile with hostile constituents.
Some of his fierce backers are accepting fate. Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said “we have no problem with the President, we have accepted and moved on...we are busy keeping the peace and praying that you do not discard us in your plans for the country.”
Mr Kahiga said, “We are a sizeable proportion of stakeholders of your government and we look forward to continuing partnering with you as we line up for the national cake.”
As the rebels, mostly from Mt Kenya West (Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Murang'a, Laikipia and Nyandarua, Nairobi and the diaspora (those living elsewhere, especially in Rift Valley) continue to wait for the administration to help them roll out that comeback strategy, those in Mt Kenya East, where Prof Kindiki comes from, are demanding projects to endear them to the voters.
“We will not live in eternity in this enmity that is founded in emotions. It is development that unites us....it is the development we voted for and that is what the President will bring to the table,” Mbeere North MP Geoffrey Ruku said.
Rapid development
Buuri MP Rindikiri Murwithania said, “The elevation of Kithure Kindiki to the second highest office in the land was for purposes of bringing harmony in government so that it can concentrate on endearing itself to citizens through rapid development.”
Mr Ruku said that "we are now entering a phase where all those mega projects that were promised will be rolled out and the citizens will be happy and looking forward to 2027 with more optimism than gloom.”
Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki said “we need to be pacified... we are one, we need to revisit our love for one another and support for this government.”
He said “soon, we are going to start moving around and helping our people heal and adopt the changes as that is the reality we must live with.”
Mr Njuki said “this Mountain business is just an illusion created to divide us.”
He added, “We look forward to partnering with all parts of Mt Kenya and the country at large to pursue real benefits for our people devoid of toxic politics that only aggravates despondency and poverty.”
Kiama kia Ma patron Kung'u Muigai told the Nation that “it is true we are planning to win back lost relations through more interactive forums as well as fast-tracked development.” He said “already, meetings are lined up and anytime we will start ground incursions that seek to bond our people with their government where development projects will take the centre stage.”
However, Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago said that “any meeting that does not respect our laid-down traditions and culture... progressed by brokers and rent-seekers, will remain unwanted.
He added, “We are living in a strange era when other regions are imposing on us leaders and elders and profiling our cultural activities with lenses that seek to criminalise us.
“The ground remains the voice that binds us; our structures of command are spelt out and any plan that seeks to sink Gachagua deeper in woes will be considered as hostile engagement.”
