Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left) welcomes leaders at his Wamunyoro home in Nyeri County on May 4, 2025.
It has emerged that former DP Rigathi Gachagua’s decision to isolate himself in his home village of Wamunyoro for 45 days, in an initiative he termed an “extensive consultation drive” with his political allies, was in fact a crisis mitigation project.
Mr Gachagua began his ‘conclave’ on June 16 and is expected to resume public duties on July 31. However, President William Ruto, who appears to be the main focus of the Gachagua retreat, has warned him that ‘you do not know who you are dealing with’ and ‘I will make sure you become nothing in this country’.
Mr Gachagua, who was impeached in 2024, has been battling from four political fronts: the impeachment case; competition with Uhuru Kenyatta for Mt Kenya kingpin status; his successor Prof Kithure Kindiki, mobilising Mt Kenya for President Ruto’s re-election; and “tricky enemies” sitting on the fence or already infiltrating his camp.
So far, his battles have seen him lose a High Court case challenging his impeachment and face off against Mr Kenyatta’s preferred candidate, Dr Fred Matiang’i.
Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua.
He has also had to contend with Prof Kindiki’s loyalists’ tricky agenda to divide the Mountain into East and West blocs and face desertions from his DCP.
The region is also contending with relatively popular politicians such as former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, who largely remain unaligned but could split the votes if they act in conflict with Mr Gachagua.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey has stated: “We will ensure candidates loyal to President Ruto contest positions in the Mt Kenya region while aligning with opposition political parties.”
Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata has warned that it is becoming increasingly clear that Mt Kenya voters want leaders who have declared their support for Mr Gachagua and the DCP.
It was out of these battles that Mr Gachagua first abandoned his high-profile public campaigns and retreated to Wamunyoro to consult with his community before engaging with other political allies in the search for a movement and a presidential candidate to challenge the incumbent.
Mr Maina Kamanda, the chairman of DCP’s Council of Eminent Persons, said Mr Gachagua’s retreat is more of a community housekeeping exercise, aimed at achieving a unanimous position on coalition building and expected returns ahead of 2027.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (centre) with other political leaders when he hosted them at his Wamunyoro home in Nyeri County on May 4, 2025.
“There are several matters that need consensus. The first is the issue of a community command centre, the community political party, and the minimum requirements for coalition building. We want to agree that our command centre will be in Wamunyoro and that our political party of choice will be DCP. We also want to ensure the coalition mistakes of 2022 are not repeated,” he said.
The Nation understands that Mr Gachagua will seek to make DCP the party choice among aspirants, draw up a list of bargaining points, define how the region will enter a coalition, outline the top three priorities for the presidential ticket, determine the selection process for the top three candidates, decide what to do if the ticket does not favour a politician from Central Kenya, and craft an MoU with the flag-bearer.
Mr Gachagua is also expected to convince his supporters that he can compete with the incumbent’s unlimited resources and assure them of free and fair nominations despite zoning or joint nomination proposals.
He is also expected to demonstrate how to expand his influence into other regions where DCP may be forced to form a mini-coalition within the main coalition. He must also convince his supporters that they will be rewarded after the election.
The Mt Kenya must decide whom to support in the opposition, with top contenders being Mr Gachagua, Martha Karua, Kalonzo Musyoka, Fred Matiang’i, Edwin Sifuna, Eugene Wamalwa and George Natembeya.
Meanwhile, President Ruto is seeking support from the bloc that literally made him president in 2022, when it gave him 87 per cent of the votes in the region.
But Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri told Mr Gachagua he is merely aspiring to greatness, as the Mt Kenya community has not authorised him to organise the region for the 2027 elections.
Mr Gachagua has indicated that the task facing him at Wamunyoro is not an easy one, especially since his impeachment battle is now heading to the Court of Appeal, with the possibility of a subsequent Supreme Court hearing. This has cast a cloud of uncertainty over his political future, as he could be banned from holding public office until 2035.
He must convince his supporters that power can be exercised outside electoral contests.
“I now have the impeachment battle in the courts, and if it all turns out to my disadvantage, as a functional leader, I can still lead from Wamunyoro, just as Mr Raila Odinga did when he wasn’t in power, yet still led his people in all governments won by others. We have a duty as a community to agree on how to achieve this, and I propose that we all strive for this outcome within the DCP,” he recently told Inooro TV.
This impeachment case has been cited by both political and legal pundits to gain perceptions of a political tussle with constitutionalism.
Despite the High Court finding that Mr Gachagua was denied a fair trial before impeachment by the Senate, it went ahead to uphold it, hence making the Wamunyoro 2027 strategy concentrate on shaping the Mountain to agree on how to participate in the vote without a presidential candidate.
On June 18, 2026, Mr Gachagua briefed his supporters on what he was pursuing, saying the task at hand is mainly how to take ourselves into 2027 and the sacrifices that we might be called to make.
“I am making it very clear that I will not stand in the way of opposition unity. I am ready to forfeit my presidential ambition and support someone else if that is what it takes to make Dr Ruto a one-term president.
That will demand sacrifices from me and everyone else in our Mountain team. It is around that working problem that we have to come up with several agreements on how we can be in that race without being seen to be in it,” he said.
Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua during the reception of former nominated Senator Millicent Omanga into the party at the party headquarters in Nairobi on March 19, 2026.
Mr Njuguna Njohi, who is Mr Gachagua’s point man in Kinangop constituency, Nyandarua County, told Nation that he was among the first delegation that visited Wamunyoro on June 16.
“It was a moment to behold as Mr Gachagua bared some aspects of his 2027 agenda. One of them was the Ol Kalou by-election scheduled for July 16. I cannot disclose the details of the meeting, but the crux of it is that it was a moment with a selfless man who appears fixated with the liberation of this country, and the deliberations were about unity of purpose angled for success and sacrifice of ambitions to get the work done,” he said.
“We emerged from the conclave well assured we had met our supreme leader and our party being DCP,” he added, noting that there is a clear understanding that “the fight ahead will not be won through selfishness”.
“We are facing a critical moment of demanding correction of the mess we got ourselves into in the 2022 moment of decision madness,” said Mr Njuguna.
According to Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago, the Gachagua agenda has been endorsed by the social, economic and political actors of the Mt Kenya community.
“We are pushing for community unity. We want a Mt Kenya that will face 2027 not divided like we did in 2022, where 87 percent of us voted for Dr Ruto and 12 percent voted for Mr Odinga. We want a community that is cohesive enough to deliver a more than 95 percent bloc vote to one presidential candidate,” he said.
Mr Kiago revealed a key aspect of the Gachagua agenda that has been building up in his recent political engagements: that the Mt Kenya boundaries have since expanded to accommodate the Kamba community.
“This means that Ukambani can front a representative on the negotiation table on behalf of Mt Kenya. It means that, for instance, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka is a loved son of the united Mountain. We will ensure that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Gachagua approach 2027 united. We do not want two command centres since that is what our voters have warned us against. Let us give Mr Gachagua time, and he will emerge with a position that is representative of all our interests in the 2027 vote,” he said.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri.
However, Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri reminds Mr Gachagua that he is just a hopeful of greatness since the Mt Kenya community has not sat down and mandated him to organise the region for the 2027 polls.
“Mr Gachagua is just a self-anointed Mt Kenya leader. He is just trying to push through a dream. He is gabbling. Those of us who do not subscribe to his ideologies are also meeting. This is a chessboard, and none of us is strategising for defeat. While I wish Mr Gachagua all the best, he should also reciprocate by wishing us all the best in ensuring that his plans become inferior to those of ours. There are those of us who will never support him unless he becomes more inclusive, detribalises his politics and ceases [his] dictatorial mien,” said Mr Kiunjuri.
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