By Jackie Adhyambo
In the drama that is Kenyan politics, over the years, few spectacles have been as dazzlingly eventful as the downfall of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Ousted in a historic impeachment last October, Gachagua now roams Kenya’s political wilderness, railing against the same government he, not too long ago, shielded with messianic fervour. His transformation from William Ruto’s chief attack dog to a self-styled “truthful man” is hardly a redemption arc. In fact, it is a living example of duplicity that exposes a legacy built on tribal incitement, constitutional contempt and staggering double-speak.
Gachagua’s impeachment was Kenya’s most dramatic and visible under the 2010 Constitution. Those who sympathised with him back in the day have had a chance to witness the vitriolic character he is while in the cold during which time he has exposed his ungainly demeanour that is completely unworthy of high office. Kenyans now know vintage Gachagua as a man who readily and without any qualms whatsoever weaponises victimhood while sabotaging the institutions he once vehemently swore to uphold.
The Gachagua of then and now is truly a contradiction in terms and at least three reasons tell why.
One, Gachagua is essentially a tribal champion posing as national unifier.
For those who recall, Gachagua built his brand on defending the mountain folk with his clarion call, warning – “don’t touch the mountain.” As Deputy President, he infamously claimed that the government was a “shareholding entity ” where certain voters—on account of who they backed in the 2022 election—deserved preferential treatment. Yet, come post-impeachment, Gachagua emerged from the blues posing as a unifying figure. The same man who time without end has reduced governance to tribal arithmetic is now suddenly a paragon of national renaissance notwithstanding his glaring and dangerous hypocrisy when he poses as Kenya’s messiah.
Two, Gachagua, who not too long ago Ruto’s bulldog is now the latter’s avowed nemesis having switched his allegiance after he was shown the door? Until his ouster, Gachagua was Ruto’s foremost and near-rabid enforcer. At some point he serially mocked President Uhuru Kenyatta with utmost venom while marshalling Mount Kenya’s votes for Ruto. Back then, he dismissed Ruto’s critics as “traitors.” This is the same fellow who now calls Ruto all manner of names! Why would any sane person believe the gospel of Saint Gachagua of Wamunyoro?
Three, how do we live with wannabe Gachagua, a constitutional crusader who is also a due process dodger? As Deputy President, Gachagua defended the government over all manner of accusations only to become a fervent attack dog of illegalities he now accuses the very government he worked for upon his dismissal! Such lack of inconsistency speaks volumes of a double-faced and unprincipled creature.
By and large, Gachagua’s folly lies not in his ambition but in his incorrigible inconsistency. Consider his apology to Uhuru Kenyatta, a man he time and again vilified, but who poor Gachagua admitted to have been “foolish to fight my own brother.” His forked tongue foretells of opportunism of an extreme kind. Political analyst Bobby Mkangi put it well when he once observed that, “Gachagua couldn’t consolidate his base or fellow politicians.” Surely not with his yoyo mannerisms! The truth is Gachagua has burned many bridges, while blaming the stoking of fire on others.
Gachagua’s transformation from Ruto’s confidant to political pariah mirrors a queer dilemma and rot of Kenya’s brand of politics. Yet his duplicity is epic. His double-speak erodes trust in institutions while normalising ethnic scapegoating and proving that for some, patriotism is merely patronage in disguise.
Kenyans must reject Gachagua’s brand of cynical reversals. True service to one’s nation must transcend political camps. A man who, not too long ago defended the government until it discarded him is a perfect portrait of a hopeless narrowness when he takes to maligning the same government in a bid to resurrect his corpse of ambition through cheap chest thumping and name-calling.
“The strength of a nation,” President Ruto declared days after Gachagua’s ouster, “depends on institutions free from tribalism and division.” He was spot on!
Ultimately, Gachagua’s greatest folly is forgetting that Kenya’s soul is not for sale to the highest bidder or the loudest turncoat.
Adhyambo is a Nakuru-based knowledge management consultant.
