Gachagua: Party I'll unveil will shake political landscape

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Former DP Rigathi Gachagua, DAP-K leader Eugene Wamalwa and Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka during the launch of DAP-K new headquarters in Nairobi on January 27, 2025/RIGATHI GACHAGUA

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said the new political party he is planning to unveil will be a force to be reckoned with.

Speaking on Monday during the launch of the new DAP-Kenya party headquarters in Karen, Nairobi, Gachagua said the new outfit will shake Kenya's political landscape and reduce some parties to a shell.

"Hivi karibuni (soon), we are going to unveil our movement; it is a serious movement; it is a national movement but the home of the mountain," he said.

Plans to form the political party, he said, started when he was kicked out of government through impeachment in October last year.

Gachagua, a friend-turned-foe of President William Ruto following his impeachment, played a pivotal role in the victory UDA secured in the August 2022 presidential election.

Following his impeachment, the former DP said the Mt Kenya region has been left without a party of their own because they joined government without one.

Gachagua said he is now under intense pressure from the region to form their own political vehicle ahead of the 2027 polls.

"The people from the mountain have said they were going for a wedding with a hired vehicle; when we got to the river, we were told to disembark. Now we are looking for our own vehicle," he said.

He said the country should expect him to unveil the new party in a few weeks' time, even though he is under pressure to do so hurriedly.

"If you know the pressure I'm under to announce the vehicle, I'm not sleeping. People are impatient, and they don’t want to see anything yellow."

Gachagua said the party will have a national outlook and will accommodate parties with like ideology as the country gears towards the next general election.

"It will be a big vehicle for all Kenyans; we want to join forces with the others, and we mean well for the country. And nobody should tell us we are being tribal because we are strengthening our base; you would be stupid to go to the national table before you organise your house."

Gachagua said the new political outfit will be in the race to inherit Raila Odinga's support base in Nyanza and Western Kenya if he wins the African Union chairmanship seat and fully exit local politics.