Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa Kayole Parish on July 21, 2024. Inset: (left) Retired president Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto.
The Kikuyu Council of Elders (KCE) has teamed with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's loyalists to ask former president Uhuru Kenyatta to break his silence and come to the aid of the second in command following an explosive interview on Citizen TV that exposed trouble in the Kenya Kwanza paradise.
On Friday, a dejected Mr Gachagua revealed a series of problems he has been facing in the hands of President William Ruto and his loyalists that risk ending up in impeachment, two years after Kenya Kwanza rode to power.
The Deputy President made claims of being isolated from state functions, having been locked out of a WhatsApp group on the Head of State’s diary, enduring disrespect from officials and politicians allied to the president, sabotage in his key official functions and threats of impeachment among others.
"Gachagua's lamentations are a community issue,” says KCE chairman Wachira Kiago, who asked for solidarity with the Deputy President. "We listened to Mr Gachagua make his submission and clearly, all is not well in the government structure vis-a-vis Mt Kenya interests".
He said the issues raised called for top regional leaders to come together, led by Mr Kenyatta, “who is the reigning king”.
On his live interview on Citizen TV, Mr Gachagua acknowledged Mr Kenyatta as the "undisputed" community leader. He also once again apologised to the Kenyatta family for the attacks directed at them during the 2022 election campaign. Analysts see the latest move as an attempt by Mr Gachagua to consolidate the move and also lean on Mr Kenyatta’s political heft.
Mr Kung'u Muigai, the national patron of Kiama Kia Ma, another group of elders from Central Kenya, said on Saturday that Mr Gachagua's declaration of Mr Kenyatta as the region’s “king” is in line with the area cultural practice.
"Our community leadership structure as defined by sticks of authority states that unless a former kingpin is dead, his stick of leadership is oiled to become that of community king. The incoming kingpin, through assuming the senior most political position, qualifies him to get the stick of leadership," he says.
In an event where there is more than one former kingpin, Mr Muigai says, they form a council with the oldest being the king.
Mr Muigai who also is Mr Kenyatta's cousin said "though oiling of the former president's stick of leadership is yet to be done to make him king, by virtue of him being alive qualifies him to speak as an authority in our community".
Mr Kiago says Mt Kenya communities are majorly under the command of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Gachagua. This, he explains, should push the two to strengthen their cooperation and come out forcibly to speak about regional and national interest.
The Kiama Kia Ma vice chairman Mr Njoroge Mugo said the Mt Kenya region has a huge stake in government since it gave 87 per cent of its votes to Dr Ruto in 2022. The recent inclusion of Mr Raila Odinga’s allies into government means that a further 13 per cent of the votes from the Mountain given to the Azimio presidential candidate have now been incorporated.
“That is why listening to Gachagua’s lamentations raises a lot of concerns,” he said, adding that the region must not allow itself to be divided.
Former provincial administrator and council of elders advisor Joseph Kaguthi on Saturday told Nation Africa that the Mt Kenya region finds itself at a crossroads.
“This is a delicate situation because we cannot confront the government in a manner that forces us to burn bridges but at the same time serious issues that Mr Gachagua revealed cannot go unattended," he said.
Mr Kaguthi said currently Mr Gachagua is the point of reference when it comes to the region's relations the Ruto administration even though some leaders from the region have coalesced around Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki.
"There might be all those issues that makes Mr Gachagua a challenge to relate with for some people, but when all is said and done, he is the one we have as our senior most leader (in Mt Kenya) and he is the one we shall defend," he said.
He added that "currently we have an asset in this community in the name of Mr Kenyatta who has served in the office of the president".
"One voice that can make all the difference is that of Mr Kenyatta. Should he speak publicly and pronounce himself directly on this issue of dividing the mountain and fighting its structures of command, everyone will listen," he said.
Mr Kaguthi said he and other elders will privately reach out to Mr Kenyatta and agree on how best he can intervene and offer the way forward.
Mr Kenyatta's Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni told Nation Africa on Saturday that "it is the position of my party leader that all is not well in the country and in our community".
Mr Kioni said Gachagua's lamentations are nothing new but a culmination of Dr Ruto's exercise of politics as an MP for 15 years, Deputy President for 10 years and president for two years.
"I assure the people of the mountain and Kenyans at large that our former president is in the side of public interest. He is gravely concerned and as the wise leader he is, at the opportune time he will roar," he said.
Mr Kioni added that Mr Kenyatta’s allies were already shopping for an alternative political formation ahead of 2027 General Election.
He urged Mr Gachagua to partner with those seeking to redeem Mt Kenya from "all those issues he was complaining about which in any case are the ones that Mr Kenyatta had warned us against well in advance ahead of 2022 General Election".
Former Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi said the region’s current political problems come from lack of a political party in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, lack of a 2022-2027 Memorandum of Understanding as well as Mr Gachagua's initial confrontational attitude when he assumed office.
Mr Ngugi added that Mr Kenyatta is likely to welcome Mr Gachagua’s public apology and efforts to bridge the political divide following the heated 2022 elections campaign.
"Mr Kenyatta is not against anyone, including president Ruto. All that he desires is that 2027 finds the Mt Kenya region is united, with a clearly negotiated pact running to 2032," he said.
Former Bahati MP Mr Kimani Ngunjiri on Saturday said Mt Kenya leaders will seek audience with Mr Kenyatta and eventually ask him to issue political directives.
