At the height of the crisis the government is facing, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has chosen to endear himself to the people, posing as their defender and saviour.
Irrespective of the consequences, the DP is branding himself as the voice of the people in a government viewed to be vomiting on the shoes of its core constituency – the hustlers.
Gachagua has not shied from talking about abductions by security officers, contradicting his boss President William Ruto. The split runs deep.
The DP has also pushed for the compensation of those injured following the brutal force police meted out on protesters and for families who lost loved ones.
At least 39 people are reported to have died.
Gachagua has also gone against the grain, condemning demolitions by the government on structures on riparian land.
Many landlords have lost billions of shillings in investments after their properties were brought down by bulldozers.
Political observers say the DP is re-playing Ruto’s pre-2022 elections political script of endearing himself to the people, sometimes playing populist politics.
Gachagua, popularly known as Riggy G, has been an ardent defender of the interest of his Mt Kenya backyard.
The move has triggered sharp reactions, with many critics within Ruto’s inner circle accusing him of perpetuating tribalism.
Pundits say Gachagua’s game plan could be lethal for Ruto and his allies in Mt Kenya.
“He [Gachagua] is trying. The so-called feuds are helping him. He has been trying in vain for two years to be accepted. There are signs they might embrace him,” said USIU don Prof Macharia Munene, a political commentator.
“He is beginning to get a little sympathy. Gachagua is a good politician. You can see poor Ichung’wah [Kikuyu MP and Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah] is already in trouble with his remarks about villagers. The DP, therefore, is gaining sympathy. As to whether this is enough to take the Mt Kenya vote is yet to be seen. It is too early to tell.”
Gachagua recently stirred a political debate about his next moves after he chose to haul his suitcase to board a commercial Kenya Airways flight to Mombasa.
Ruto’s allies mounted scathing attacks, accusing Gachagua of being a drama king, who is out to seek the sympathy of a hard-to-get constituency. In the nascent days of the Kenya Kwanza administration, the ‘honest and truthful man’ – as the DP calls himself-, made it clear that only ‘shareholders’ would get a piece of the national cake.
In this, he meant the Mt Kenya and Rift Valley populace that voted almost to a man in the 2022 elections to propel Ruto’s UDA to power.
Lately, Gachagua wants the revenue sharing formula changed to favour one-man, one-vote, one-shilling, which guarantees his backyard more resources if adopted.
The DP has also embarked on a reconciliation mission with the Kenyatta family and has made public apologies for the ‘inadvertent remarks’ of the 2022 campaign trail.
His bid to reunite with Uhuru Kenyatta is equally observed to be endearing him to the people, especially amid news of the former President’s pension row with the current administration.
While critics may say his political moves could ignite ethnic animosity, other pundits believe history could repeat itself, to the detriment of Gachagua’s detractors.
Political observers foresee a possibility of Gachagua ‘running away with the populous Mt Kenya voting bloc’ as an endgame.
“In the face of concerns about the government’s non-performance economically and the perception that tax plans are directed at them, automatically they no longer support the Kenya Kwanza government,” said Prof Gitile Naituli, a former NCIC commissioner and political commentator.
Signs of the growing dissatisfaction were revealed in a recent Infotrak opinion poll, which showed 63 per cent of Central residents believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Twenty per cent said things were okay.
“Even though they have had issues with Gachagua’s earlier pronouncements, which were neither clever nor patriotic - like calling Uhuru names and saying the Kenya Kwanza government was a company, they [Mt Kenya] are about to forgive and support him, because they need a leader,” Prof Naituli said.
Gachagua’s moves are geared towards elevating him to the level he would seek to contest the presidency and those who would oppose him risk being thrown into the political abyss.
“It will lead to him being a presidential candidate. All those who rally against him will be thrown out by voters. Anybody left with Ruto will be treated like the Kamothos and Kariuki Chotaras of the Moi era. It will be like the bloodbath Azimio suffered in 2022,” Naituli said.
For the pundits, any amount of crackdown on Gachagua will make many Kenyans hostile to the administration, adding to the tough economic times and heavy taxation.
Notable Mt Kenya figures on Ruto’s side include Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro [Murang’a], Ichung’wah and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.
The grand question by the DP’s critics is whether he can turn the tide against Ruto, who is believed to have won the region’s voters’ hearts by himself in the last poll.
Some quarters feel DP Gachagua still has a long way to go to get the region’s full support and torpedo UDA.
Former Kajiado North MP Joseph Manje, who was among the notable faces at the Martha Karua-led Limuru III April conference, said it would be no walk in the park for the DP.
“It is not as easy as people may think. I don’t think he can command the region. The way he put himself at the onset, vilified Uhuru, didn’t augur well with the people,” he said.
“He is part and parcel of the government. Much as he wants to play the Ruto script, the position now is that the KK administration is not preferred. It gave promises it has not fulfilled and people are unhappy about it.”
Former Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni said taking over the hustler constituency won’t be easy and if Gachagua is serious about his ambitions, he should jump ship from UDA.
“If you want people to know there is a change of heart, jump ship. You cannot stand behind Ruto, whose UDA and its offspring we want to send home,” Kioni said.
For the critics, Ruto’s administration has mismanaged the entire system.
“This is occasioned by the fact that the entire team is a disaster,” Kioni said.
Gachagua is said to be shopping for a political vehicle for the next election, a question he is believed to be seeking answers from Uhuru.
Uhuru’s Jubilee party is in shambles after the shredding by UDA in the last poll, coupled with internal wrangles that have threatened its mobilisation efforts.
Those aware of the DP’s plans say he is keen on bringing the teams together to form a formidable force, either to challenge Ruto or push up his bargaining power for the national cake.