The Service Party (TSP) leader Mwangi Kiunjuri on Wednesday told former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua that he will not succeed in making President William Ruto a one-term president, saying the Head of State will get as much as 70 percent of the Mt Kenya vote in 2027.
He also warned him against leaking state secrets, especially those related to internal security and bilateral and multilateral relations.
"I want to remind Gachagua that he is a holder of a lifetime oath of secrecy and some of the things he is emitting in the name of exciting the audiences are treasonous. Other things he is saying are expressly defamatory," he said.
"Gachagua is today going against his lifetime oath of secrecy. He is saying unsubstantiated things likely to plunge this country into an internal, regional, continental and global crisis. As a human being, I feel duty-bound to advise Mr Gachagua to measure his words, apply wisdom in his utterances and also understand that talking too much exposes his underbelly," he said.
Mr Kiunjuri, who is also the Laikipia East MP, urged Mr Gachagua to tell Kenyans what better governance he can offer "instead of engaging in petty sloganeering and personal vendetta".
"Mr Gachagua's latter day politics is hinged on bitterness, revenge and weaponising communities and age groups against patriotism, decorum and embracing development," he said.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at PCEA Mwiki on April 6, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation
Speaking in Agikuyu TV show, Mr Kiunjuri faulted Mr Gachagua's public campaigns that seek to mobilise Mt Kenya region to sever ties with President Ruto and prepare to vote out the President in 2027.
"For now we have President Ruto in power. We technically and morally have no reason to believe that he is not ideal for Mt Kenya interests. We have two more years to make an informed choice. Mr Gachagua is only seeking to butter his bread by using our community as a stepping stone," he said.
He said President Ruto loyalists intend to counter the Gachagua wave and eventually "we will teach him mountain manners, especially in Mbeere North where we are looking forward to a by-election".
This coincides with Gachagua saying he will unveil his Mountain party next month, giving him an opportunity to test-drive it right in his Mt Kenya backyard.
"We deliberately advised the president to go for a by-election in the Mountain to try and keep Gachagua busy and also give him a reality check. We know our maths in Mbeere North. The President's battalion will make that constituency our second home," Kiunjuri said.
He said that in the worst case scenario, the president would lose 20 percent of the mountain region.
“There was a time we were victims of scaremongering to a point President Ruto believed he had a single digit following in the mountain after Gachagua was impeached. With time, we read through the deception and revised our target to 50 percent. The successful president tour in the mountain has made us settle for 70 percent in 2027,” he said.
President William Ruto during a Joint Media Engagement at Sagana State Lodge, Nyeri County on March 31, 2025 during his Central Kenya tour.
Photo credit: PCS
He said Mt Kenya has a choice: "Cease rebellion without a cause and join hands with President Ruto, pursue value for its 87 percent stake in government, or abandon common sense as well as wisdom and sever ties with him".
Mr Kiunjuri also defended President Ruto on claims that he declared himself the king of the mountain during his April 1 to 6, 2025 tour in the region.
"He did not say that he is king of the Agikuyu culture as Gachagua has been claiming. President Ruto only said that he is the crowned king of the Agikuyu votes owing to the 87 percent endorsement he received from the area in 2022," he said.
Saying no elected leader has personal issues with Gachagua, Mr Kiunjuri said the former DP was a good human being, but an “awful politician”.
Mr Gachagua had on April 15, 2025 penned a lengthy letter to the Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja alleging that there is a national plan being mooted in the executive to assassinate him.
Mr Kiunjuri further urged Mr Gachagua to respect other leaders' freedom of association and right to belong.
"It cannot be that when we wilfully chose to follow the president we become tùkùnia, komerera, ngati, njuna ndara and kunda ngutume (all meaning traitors) but when he wilfully chooses to follow Kalonzo Musyoka like he is currently doing he wants to be taken as a hero," he said.
Mr Kiunjuri said that Mt Kenya is now experiencing bad politics of having “unhygienic leaders with unkempt hair and beards”.
"We do not know where else they are not shaving... This is cult politics in the making and security officers should be very vigilant within Mt Kenya region...After Mungiki, we should not have this Itungati movement being introduced in the name of politics".
Mr Gachagua has been going round Mt Kenya introducing his loyalists as Itungati, which means freedom fighters.
"We have no quarrel with the President. No one has actually accused the President of neglecting Mt Kenya. We have the highest slots in Cabinet. We control most critical institutions. President Ruto has not shown any signs of belittling our votes. The only thing we are hearing from Gachagua is that Kasongo must go, Ruto must go. A very unfortunate thing when elections are more than two years away," Mr Kiunjuri said.
He said Gachagua’s impeachment was not a mountain issue, but a personal ambitions' charge gone wrong.
"Gachagua thought he was a co-president. He thought all communications to him is supposed to come from the President alone and he was the authority to determine Mt Kenya issues," Mr Kiunjuri said.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation
He said President Ruto will be back in the mountain about 10 times for development before the 2027 campaigns kick off.
"The President will still get his running mate from Mt Kenya for the 2027 duel, unless our voters want to discard the meat for the bone," he said.
He also faulted Mr Gachagua for his political rally in Machakos County on April 15, 2025.
"I heard Gachagua in Machakos lie that Mt Kenya has chased away President Ruto. Yet, the evidence is all over how the President was received in the mountain. After failing to have Mt Kenya hate Ruto, he is now exporting his venom to neighbouring regions. He is a man nearing the end of his tether," he said.
"Even Kalonzo has confessed to me that he is entangled with Gachagua for lack of nothing better to do. The only alliance Gachagua has made is that with Martha Karua. I don't know who among them intends to vie for the presidency and who will be the running mate. That is how local Gachagua is," Mr Kiunjuri said.
