The DP is yet to cast a conciliatory tone despite standing by his party leader’s side when the President asked Raila to stop demonstrations and agree to truce talks.
Speaking in Nyeri on Sunday, Gachagua said Raila is an ordinary citizen who will not get any preferential attention.
The only avenue Raila has for his demands to be addressed is to use elected leaders, he said.
"We cannot talk to him. Who is he in Kenya? We are talking to him on what grounds?" he said during a service at PCEA Ngorano Church in Mathira.
He said before any discussion, Raila must acknowledge in public that Ruto is the President.
Gachagua advised the team to be named by the Kenya Kwanza for the bipartisan talks to listen to the concerns of the opposition, as the President has no time for other engagements outside Parliament.
Rubbishing the 'handshake' talk, the DP explained that if embraced elections would lose meaning.
"Kenya is a democracy. Why do we go to an election? Why do we spend Sh30 billion for people to elect leaders, some get elected while others are rejected"? he said.
Even before Kenya Kwanza settles on a team to be unveiled on Tuesday for the bipartisan talks, the DP has stated he wouldn’t want a handshake with Raila.
“Even if a handshake were to happen, I cannot be part of it. You know what happens every time you enter into a handshake with him,” Gachagua said on Thursday.
“You saw what happened when he entered into one with our leader in Mt Kenya, whom we respected. You know what happened next. Things started going wrong,” he said.
Whichever way it is defined, political pundits hold that any truce between Ruto and Raila would amount to a handshake, and would result in an uncomfortable change of the status quo.
They observe that this could be among the reasons Gachagua has been pulling all stops to ensure that every political leader in the party, more so from his Mt Kenya backyard, is allied to him.
In a wider scheme to supplant former President Uhuru Kenyatta as the region’s kingpin, the DP is keen to remain the only way to Ruto and vice versa on Mt Kenya affairs.
When the Easter holidays presented an opportunity for a break from the daily routine, the Deputy President retreated to his people.
And central to his activities were issues at the core of the region’s polity – tea, coffee, and milk reforms.
He visited dozens of coffee and tea farmers and congregated with his people for a church service.
The DP has been making pilgrimages to Mt Kenya, sacred to the Kikuyu community, to offer his prayers as the region's leader, with the activities given prominent publicity.
In the event of a handshake, it is believed Raila is likely to come on board with his constituency, making a number of Kenya Kwanza honchos vulnerable.
Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah are among Kenya Kwanza bigwigs who see the truce as Raila's bid to join government.
A number of Ruto’s staunch allies have also accused Raila of seeking to enter the government through the backdoor. The former PM has denied the claims.
Even so, political pundits widely hold the view that introducing Raila in the matrix would mean giving him part of the goodies – which are already shared out.
It would also amount to a win for Uhuru, who is believed to be part of the scheme of fomenting attacks on his successor's administration.
A handshake stands to render the new power men inconsequential, according to Dr Charles Nyambuga, a political commentator from Maseno University.
He says Rigathi and a battery of Kikuyu politicians have made it to where they are by bashing Raila.
“Removing their target [Raila] removes them from the equation. Who will they attack? They won't be relevant anymore,” he told the Star.
Political analyst and governance expert Javas Bigambo said Kenya Kwanza would be split down the middle if there is any cooperation between Ruto and Raila.
“Believe you me, Kenya Kwanza will split down the middle the same way Jubilee split after he worked with Uhuru. If at all there is a rift in Kenya Kwanza, Ruto’s chances of reelection will diminish,” Bigambo said.
For Pokot South MP David Pkosing, a member of the Azimio seven-member panel for the talks, the grandstanding is driven by the fear Ruto would have no reason to engage them.
He says the leaders fear they’ll have nothing to blackmail the President with.
“Some of the MPs in Kenya Kwanza feel if the country is peaceful and opposition is working with Kenya Kwanza, they will become irrelevant and will not have an opportunity to blackmail the President,” he said.
Pkosing added, “Without the opposition coming to a truce, they will be telling the President to give them money to fight the opposition. With a truce, the money is not going to be there.”
For Kenya Kwanza, the opposition is simply using the stolen poll victory claim as a bargaining chip for a share in the government.
Senator Cheruiyot, in a similar stance to Gachagua’s, said, “National Accord aka nusu mkate [half a loaf] is haram [bad]. That’s a no-go zone. Try something else please.”
At the weekend, the Kericho Senator said the Azimio leader and his supporters should forget about the IEBC servers they insist should be opened.
Ichung’wah said the bipartisan approach would give weight to issues that benefit the nation more than personal interests (handshake).
“I see there are some quarters who are excited that there is a handshake. I can confirm to you that there is no handshake,” the National Assembly Majority leader said.
Questions abound as to why Rigathi, and those vehemently opposed to a handshake settlement, would not want to give way.
A number of factors play out, chiefly the supremacy battle for Mt Kenya where it is believed Uhuru is still a major force.
Rigathi and his backers call themselves the sons of Mau Mau in the onslaught to dislodge Uhuru from the kingship of the vote-rich region.
The likes of Jubilee secretary general Jeremiah Kioni and Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua, seen as vouching for Uhuru’s interests, thus present competition.
The shadow of Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, a key stakeholder of Kenya Kwanza who Ruto almost named as running mate, has also stood out.
Ruto has propped Musalia Mudavadi and handed him key roles in his administration, upping his stakes as choice running mate in the 2027 race.
Kindiki is viewed as a sober Mt Kenya leader, while Mudavadi is seen as the sober face of Western who can easily replace Rigathi in the 2027 game plan.
“Raila will have no problem with Musalia and Kindiki should he agree to a truce with Ruto. This is likely to unsettle the DP,” said Anderson Ojwang’, a Nairobi-based political analyst and veteran journalist.
Senator Cheruiyot is seen as the next big thing in South Rift politics and a potential Ruto heir.
Political observers hold he is angling to take a prime position for future political negotiations, possibly a running mate of the 2032 Kenya Kwanza candidate.
The pundits hold that the biggest fear in the lot is that should it get to the wire and Ruto enters into a handshake, they would be rendered irrelevant.
But Rigathi’s henchmen disagree with the sentiments to the effect the handshake would interfere with his politics.
Tigania East MP Mpuru Aburi said they simply don’t want a handshake for it compromises the opposition.
“Handshakes have not helped many Kenyans. It never helped during Kibaki, or during Uhuru’s time. When Raila joins Ruto's government, there will be no one to speak out when things go wrong,” he said.
The lawmaker added that Rigathi is “a man of his own mind who is at liberty to play his politics in the fashion he wants.”
With the threat by Raila that his team would not hesitate to call fresh protests, Ruto’s government has been pushed to tight corner.
Ruto himself has repeatedly rejected a settlement that would create a "mongrel of a government" like was the case with his predecessor Uhuru in 2018.
But with the unforgiving economic situation squeezing the government’s options, his advisers say a handshake cannot be ruled out.
Citing the economic cost of political instability, Ruto’s Chief Economic Advisor David Ndii at the weekend said the government could settle Raila.
“If push comes to shove handshake is always an option. How much do you think that will cost?” he asked, hinting at the options Ruto may explore.
The President recently threw the hardliners off balance when they were gearing up for a face-off with Azimio protesters. Anything is thus possible.
