Main picture: Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Inset: (from left): Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, Embu governor Cecily Mbarire, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru and Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri.
While Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua still has a fighting chance in the impeachment motion he faces in the National Assembly, jostling for his seat is in top gear pitting, largely Mount Kenya West, East and Aberdare West.
Stated differently, if Mr Gachagua indeed falls and President William Ruto decides to pick a mountaineer to fill the vacancy, the lobbying is intense in Tharaka Nithi, Kirinyaga, Embu, Murang'a, Kiambu and Laikipia Counties.
In the impeachment motion that was tabled on October 1, 2024 by Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse, at least 291 MPs have signed in support, sparking debate on his possible successor.
Actual names floated so far are those of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru, Embu governor Cecily Mbarire, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro as well as Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri.
Mr Gachagua is from the populous Western side and those salivating for the plum position from his backyard argue the seat is currently theirs and must remain there.
Other new entrants into the race are Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang’ata, Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome, all who hail from Murang’a County, as well as well as that of National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah, a fierce critic of Mr Gachagua even though the argument against him is Kiambu, his county of birth, has already produced two presidents; Jomo Kenyatta and his scion Uhuru Kenyatta.
Former Health CS Mutahi Kagwe’s name is also being whispered in the corridors of power as a possible replacement. He, like Mr Gachagua, hails from Nyeri County.
More still, the sulking that has hit Mt Kenya in the heat of the impeachment debate has been rated to be of the magnitude that can lead the president to also consider transferring that position from Mt Kenya to either Luo Nyanza or Western region.
There’s talk, although dismissed as remote by the president’s men, that he might go for Homa Bay governor Gladys Wanga or Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi.
Those rooting for Mr Mudavadi say he should be elevated to the second in command post and his position as PCS be taken by Prof Kindiki.
Mr Nyoro is said to have rubbed powerbrokers the wrong way, something that could work to his disadvantage, did not sign in favour of the impeachment motion.
The pro-West team has been meeting since the impeachment was mooted a few months ago, with more frequency now, their goal being to retain the seat.
"It is true that we have been meeting, several times to strategise... no one has the monopoly to lead us as Mt Kenya... we have many who qualify and it shall be revealed in the fullness of time," says Murang'a woman Rep Betty Maina.
In Tharaka Nithi, governor Muthoni Njuki confessed being put in an awkward place of making a choice "given that Gachagua is my friend but in this issue I support Mr Kindiki as it was right from the beginning...it is an honest confession".
The endorsement mirrored a pre-election support for Mr Kindiki, where he is said to have received majority support from Mt Kenya region leaders to be Dr Ruto’s running mate in the 2022 election, but the then deputy president settled on Mr Gachagua as his best bet.
At least 48 legislators drawn from Mt Kenya region and its ‘diaspora’ had declared Kindiki as their link to the executive, hailing from the East making him eclipse Mr Gachagua from the role, even before the tabling of the notice of motion for his ouster.
According to Mbeere North MP Mr Geoffrey Ruku, the leaders argued that the absence of a centralized representative had hindered efforts to advance the region’s agenda.
“Given the prevailing state of affairs and the urgency of the mission ahead, there is need to have a link that will create a nexus between us and the National Executive on matters development,” the MPs said in a joint statement, pundits reading it as a choreographed script aimed at endorsing him for the second in command slot.
However, women leaders met in Kirinyaga under the auspice of G7 (seven female governors in the country) and openly endorsed Ms Waiguru for the position.
"We are looking at the issue from the perspective of the president promising that running mates where candidates are male should be female and for that matter Waiguru fits the bill," said Mwea MP Mary Maingi.
Those vouching for Ms Waiguru believe that as a woman, and a native of Mt Kenya West, president Ruto “can be able to kill two birds with one stone,” and pacify the region amid raging tensions over the ouster motion.
National Democratic Congress youth national leader Ms Gladys Njoroge said "do not also forget about Ms Mbarire who is the ruling party's interim chairperson".
On October 3, 2024 a committee bringing together elders, Mt Kenya Foundation and Committee of Eminent Persons met in Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga which is considered the first matrimonial home of the first parents of the Agikuyu community -- Mr Gikuyu and Mr Mumbi -- to deliberate on the emerging crisis.
"We are yet to come up with a clear position since we are far from seeing logical conclusion about this impeachment. So far, our position is that President Ruto must take back Mr Gachagua, his alternative being we mobilise our people to severe relations with anything to do with this government," said Kikuyu Council of elders Chairman Mr Wachira Kiago.
DAP-Kenya deputy party leader Ayub Savula said that from the look of things, “the die is cast and Gachagua is headed home.”
“Majority MPs have decided to send Gachagua home and I don’t know what the president will do to convince them otherwise and I don’t see Riggy G going to change even if he is spared.
“His relationship with the leaders has soured. Let this thing go to Kindiki. The position belongs to Mt Kenya and the best person to take it is Prof Kindiki. He is far better than Gachagua. He has succeeded in the Interior docket and deserves elevation,” Mr Savula told Nation.
But Murang'a senator Mr Joe Nyutu called it bluff saying "we have noted with distaste that the debate has degenerated into a circus that has bared the president's real intention of forming the broad based government... it was expressly to kick out Gachagua and isolate Mt Kenya... reason why we no longer feel obliged to love his administration".
While Mr Savula faulted Mr Gachagua over claims of becoming “a DP for a region called ‘Mrima’ (Mt Kenya) yet he is supposed to serve all Kenyans, Kigumo MP Joseph Munyoro countered that "had Dr Ruto picked Kindiki as his running mate in 2022, today's president would be Mr Odinga.
Githunguri MP Gathoni wa Muchomba dismissed Kindiki as a liability who is leading interior docket blotted by Gen Z murders, enforced disappearances, persecutions and detention without trial.
Political analyst Richard Bosire told Nation that Mr Gachagua’s removal from office does not make Mt Kenya region the automatic beneficiary of his DP post, adding that the president has a latitude to appoint any Kenyan to hold the position.
“It is a mirage to say the DP post is a preserve of the mountain. We cannot keep on recycling regions in the Executive. This will be the best opportunity to have a deputy president from another region instead of recycling two regions in the leadership of this country,” he said.
Nominated senator Esther Okenyuri however, warned against preempting the outcome of the impeachment against Mr Gachagua.
“We should not preempt the debate on the impeachment pending at the National Assembly considering that it is a private member’s motion. Whether or not the President will reorganize his administration will depend on the outcome of the impeachment,” Ms Okenyuri said.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga, an ally of the DP, had in an earlier interview told Nation that they were aware of all those who were fighting him to try to elbow him from president Ruto.
Among those he noted were a thorn in Mr Gachagua’s flesh were female Governors, warning that "for every action against Gachagua there will be a reaction."
In his interview, Mr Kahiga said the G7 were being “fronted by the CoG Chair (Waiguru) under the guise of increasing the number of female Governors in the next election.”
“…the truth is that she is strategically placing herself as a possible replacement of the current DP,” Mr Kahiga charged.
President Ruto had during the launch of the G7 Council Women Governors Caucus Strategy event at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi in March, said he would sit down with Mr Gachagua and agree that should the UDA party front a man in the coming election, the running mate must be a woman.
The president said he will ensure his party leads from the front in supporting women and consequently help in attaining the two-thirds gender rule.
There is a feeling that should Mr Odinga chose to work with president Ruto to help him secure a second term in 2027, and the president prefers a female as running mate, then he would easily settle on Ms Wanga while banking on ODM chief Raila Odinga’s support, though unwritten political rule has it that the joint ticket must bring together the West and East of the country.
East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) member David Sankok says that President Ruto might settle on Ms Wanga as deputy but only in 2027 if he cements his working relationship with Mr Odinga.
“If it is true they were promised the deputy president to Gladys Wanga and it is not delivered, Ruto might have two wounded lions – Gachagua and Raila Odinga so we will have to up our game.”
