OMWENGA: Matiang’i US visit adds to growing appeal

Both former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and former ‘Super CS’ Fred Matiang’i have been barnstorming the US to meet and greet their supporters and friends of Kenya.

Their engagements are in keeping with a tradition by presidential candidates initiated by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. 

He was among the first politicians to recognise that Kenyans in the diaspora, especially those in the US and UK, can have an impact beyond their remittances, namely being able to influence their friends and relatives back home to support certain candidates.

There’s no need for a scorecard, but if one were to objectively analyse the US visits by these two leaders, one cannot but conclude that both have met their objectives, although Matiang’i appears to have gained more mileage from the visit, given what each did and the coverage the two have received.

To be sure, each leader was well received in the areas they visited and the enthusiasm was sky high for both. For Gachagua, the highlight was Seattle, Washington State.

For the former CS, the highlight was Minneapolis, Minnesota. The level of energy and excitement in the packed auditorium where he held a town hall meeting before departing the US was unlike anything seen in the US for a Kenyan politician or leader.

It was a fitting send-off for Matiang’i to do battle on the ground, no different from the one given Raila back in May 2022. The only difference being that Raila’s send-off was only three months from the 2022 election.

The former minister has to slog on for two more years before the general election, which means it is likely we will see him return to the US for a final send-off closer to the polls.

The send-off is crucial because it affirms a similar send-off Matiang’i was given when he had a rousing welcome and release by the Gusii community back in May.

The Gusii community released him to go hunting for votes and support elsewhere, which he has been doing and will no doubt escalate in the days, weeks and months ahead.

For his part, Gachagua needed no permission or release of any kind from the community from which he hails. He just grabbed the opportunity when it was presented, and one must be totally blind not to see how well he has done with his mission to avenge his impeachment.

Even the totally blind must have heard by now Wamunyoro’s thunderous denunciation of Ruto and his rallying willing crowds to sing his tune, with the most popular being Wantam and cousins.

Love him or hate him, he has earned his chops for his level of energy, creativity and take-no-prisoners attitude. It’s been reported, and the man himself has said as much: he’s not in this to vie for the presidency this time around.

Rather, the sole reason he’s this energised and determined is to avenge his impeachment by the man to whom he was once loosely joined at the hip.

But that’s only half the story. There’s no doubt Gachagua wants to be a kingmaker or, at worst, one with a big cane to whip even the President–whatever that would be.

Anyone older than a certain generation knows how effective that could be in stamping one’s authority. Most Gen Z will not know about the corporal punishment and military discipline in homes led by what loving children would rightly call dictators whose rules were the only rules that mattered; failure to them invited the inevitable punishment.

Can one blame Gachagua for wanting to wield this level of relevance in the next government?

Not if they were to be objective, and given the cards he has been dealt, starting with his impeachment that gave birth to all this.

However, having observed the man even more closely, he has enough humility and benevolence to play the cards in a way that does not backfire.

The beneficiary would likely be one Matiang’i.