They each represented two diametrically opposed sides in the 2022 presidential race, Geoffrey Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua as President William Ruto's running mate and Narc Kenya boss Martha Wangari Karua holding the number-two slot in Azimio candidate Raila Odinga’s ticket.
In the heat of the election campaigns and immediately after President Ruto and Mr Gachagua took over power, they were sworn enemies who often exchanged harsh words with each other. But two years is a long time in politics.
The regional rivals have closed ranks, or at least demonstrated the need to do so, and on Saturday January 25, the duo met in a meeting brokered by elders and influential politicians. The talks were attended by both families.
The meeting now promises to be a turning point in the politics of Mount Kenya and, by extension, the country. Observers say their coming together further solidifies the vote-rich Mt Kenya region, consolidating their numbers ahead of 2027 and protecting the region from a potential catastrophic split.
Mr Gachagua delegation took to Ms Karua's team a ram and ewe for growing the stock, symbolising the multiplying factor their unity portends. The team also delivered three he goats:
One, whose spilt blood was intended to cleanse their earlier hostilities while the other two will be for feasting to symbolise the coming together.
"We now confirm that Mr Gachagua and Mrs Karua have buried the hatchet. They are now one family ready to work together for the community and national task of uniting Mt Kenya and the country in all spheres of life," said Mr Joshua wa Makena, an elder.
In 2022, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly admitted that he helped bring Ms Karua on board as he searched for a formula to defeat Dr Ruto, who was his deputy at the time.
While Ms Karua flopped when her flag bearer lost the vote, Mr Gachagua succeeded when Dr Ruto won the race.
But two years later, Mr Gachagua had joined Ms Karua in the political cold after he spectacularly fell out with the President and was impeached in October last year.
His place was taken by Prof Kithure Kindiki, a move that sent Mr Gachagua back to the drawing board, where he is now leading a movement with an aim of making Dr Ruto a one-term president.
"I came calling on Karua because where we are as a country we need to reach out to leaders to get counsel, advise and pull our minds together and put our resources to liberate this country," said Mr Gachagua.
Gachagua: Mt Kenya people voted for William Ruto, who is not Kikuyu
“You know where we are as a country, payslips have been raided, businesses have been shut down and there is no money in circulation, every Kenyan is crying. This calls upon great men and women of courage to rise up and lead Kenyan people in liberation," he added.
The two leaders stressed that people were suffering everywhere and Kenyans should rise up and reject Dr Ruto's leadership.
"In 2022 we were political rivals and people thought we can't come together, where we are we don't have a choice but to join hands," said Mr Gachagua.
“The way things are now, there will be no country. The country is on down trend in terms of economy, there is theft of public funds and intolerance. The young ones are being abducted. Colonialists never went for our young ones but the current government is doing that. This is unacceptable," he added.
Martha Karua: The journey to liberate Kenyans from rogue Ruto government has begun
“A journey of uniting all Kenyans and liberating the country has begun. Everyone of good will should join hands to push back Dr Ruto's regime. Ruto's regime is determined to oppress Kenyans, it is a merciless regime that resembles the oppressive colonial regime," said Ms Karua.
Ms Karua accused the government of raiding pay cheques of employees which are already battered without giving commensurate services.
Further she observed that access to health services has been diminished by Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) while education for the children was deteriorating because funds had not been released to schools and universities and Kenyans were disillusioned.
The two leaders lamented that detention without trial has returned, adding that the issue was worrying.
“Our youths are being abducted and executed. Others being locked up in darkrooms and held without trial. We must regroup and say no to bad and oppressive governance," said Ms Karua.
The meeting between Mr Gachagua and Ms Karua comes at a time when the former Deputy President is about to make a declaration that he says will give Mt Kenya political direction ahead of the 2027 General Elections.
The two have never fought political battles from the same side, and their coming together ahead of the 2027 General Election has set tongues wagging.
On one side, Ms Karua has a rich legacy as a pro-democracy and human rights crusader and lawyer who rose through the ranks before venturing into politics in 1992.
On the other side, Mr Gachagua made a name as a Daniel Moi-era administrator before joining elective politics in 2017, having previously hobnobbed with influential individuals when he worked as Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s aide.
While Ms Karua was the MP for Gichugu from 1992 to 2013, serving as a cabinet minister in the Mwai Kibaki administration, Mr Gachagua has only served one term (2017-2022) as the MP for Mathira.
Ms Karua also contested the 2013 presidential election where she received about 30,000 votes.
Between the two, Ms Karua was the more visible Mt Kenya leader, serving in the government and fighting area battles until she resigned from Kibaki's administration in a huff in 2009.
Announcing her resignation, Ms Karua said she was not prepared to serve while her hands were tied.
She said her work had been frustrated by an anti-reform group in the government, but she would continue to push for change from the back benches of parliament, at civil society forums and as a Narc-K presidential candidate.
Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua (right) welcomes former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his wife Pastor Dorcas Rigathi to her home in Kirinyaga county on January 25, 2025.
Photo credit: George Munene | Nation Media Group
"Today I have tendered my resignation as Minister of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs. I feel that my position is untenable after the recent events in the ministry. I cannot continue to serve if my hands are tied. I cannot remain in office," she said.
When they were chosen as running mates by their respective contest formations, they were unsure of how to fight.
Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara says the two leaders have always had a good relationship— as she chooses to dismiss any exchanges during the campaigns and immediately after the Ruto administration came to power.
"Both knew that they had been chosen to deliver the voters of Mt Kenya region to their tickets. Both come from the same region where they are county neighbours, making it difficult to exchange political missiles," says Ms Kihara, who is now in the Gachagua camp.
But Ms Karua, with the backing of the incumbent president and running behind a political enigma of the Odinga ilk, was given all the space she needed to launch all manner of political jabs against Mr Gachagua.
Faced with a hostile audience in a region that has now decided that Dr Ruto is their favourite, Ms Karua continued to train her guns on Mr Gachagua and Dr Ruto.
The two would face each other in a televised debate on July 19, 2022, with both camps still divided over who exactly won on the day.
"But with the Karua and Raila ticket, we will fight corruption... In our hands, you and your destiny are safer," she said.
Mr Gachagua threw caution to the wind, questioning Ms Karua’s temperament and team-player credentials.
"My sister here cannot work peacefully with anybody... any leader who couldn't work with Mwai Kibaki who was the most amiable... easy to work with... I have serious doubts that such a person can work with anybody else," Mr Gachagua said then.
Even when Ms Karua said she had resigned respectfully and had no corruption cases before the courts like Mr Gachagua, her opponent insisted that "she is clueless, does not even know the cost of fertiliser, and is a stooge and a quitter."
Mr Gachagua eventually became deputy president after Dr Ruto won, but two years later their relationship soured, leading to his impeachment.
Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua (right) welcomes former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and his wife Pastor Dorcas Rigathi to her home in Kirinyaga county on January 25, 2025.
Photo credit: George Munene | Nation Media Group
Mr Gachagua, as Deputy President, continued to throw brickbats at Ms Karua, who hit back by refusing to recognise the validity of President Ruto's rule and calling the ruling regime "clueless, incompetent and fit for disposal in 2027".
Mr Gachagua's position was handed over by President Ruto to Prof Kithure, who has now been tasked by his boss to win back Mt Kenya, which has become increasingly hostile.
As well as making Prof Kindiki's work in Mt Kenya harder, the closing of ranks between Mr Gachagua and Ms Karua weakens Azimio in the mountain—notwithstanding the fact that the Narc Kenya leader had indicated the departure of her party from the opposition coalition after Mr Odinga gravitated towards the Ruto administration.
Former Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi says that with Ms Karua as his running mate—and the backing of Mr Kenyatta — in 2022, Mr Odinga got more than 800,000 votes in the Mt Kenya region. This was the highest ever since he started seeking the top post in 1997, 2007, 2013 and 2017.
The chairman of the Kikuyu Council of Elders Wachira Kiago said he would go to bed a happy man today because the coming together of Mr Gachagua and Ms Karua would strengthen the community in its immediate and long-term struggles.
"This is an answered prayer. It even calls for a toast of our traditional brew. May we drink to this good thing. We should not stop there. We should see Mr Kenyatta join in this bid for unity. People like Maina Njenga, Mwangi Kiunjuri, Ndindi Nyoro, Mwangi wa Iria and Peter Kenneth should join this unity bid," he said, adding that this would then allow the leaders build a coalition with other political formations from across the country.
