Growing rifts in Kenya Kwanza, 2032 succession intrigues, perceived rebellion in Mt Kenya and an onslaught from Azimio have forced Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua back to the drawing board.
For the first time since he romped to victory, the DP has exposed political panic – hinting at reaching out to his nemesis and Former President Uhuru Kenyatta for a truce.
The DP, who had viciously demonised Uhuru during the campaigns and branded him a ‘thief’ who left back a dilapidated economy, has offered an olive branch to the former President.
"Kenyatta was fronting Raila Odinga for the presidency and he lost. We have now decided to embrace him as our respectable son and statesman despite everything,” Gachagua said in an interview with Inooro Radio last Friday.
"As Mt Kenya leaders, we have agreed not to be fighting him and I'm planning to hold talks with him. I have ordered everyone to respect him and he is also doing good to keep his peace."
The DP appeared to lift the lid on the growing concerns within his camp that his Mt Kenya turf is rumbling, anxious and reeling from a vicious infighting that could hurt his fortunes.
The DP is said not to be in good books with Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, key, linchpins in President Ruto’s administration.
There are concerns that Kuria’s transfer from the plum Trade and Industry docket had the blessings of the DP.
Gachagua had earlier been accused of holding talks with Mt Kenya MPs to plan for Kuria’s removal from the Cabinet even as he insisted last week that he asked Ruto to appoint the CS to the Cabinet.
The DP said on Friday that he will counsel Kuria from the 'bad boy that he is,' lifting the lid on their possible fallout and growing rift.
"I'm the one who talked to the president to give Kuria work in the Cabinet. I will talk to him (Kuria) to cease being the bad boy he is,'' the DP said during an interview with Inooro Radio.
"I will panel-beat him to conform to the demands of the civil. I will tune his tongue to sound nice in talk."
Former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri expressed concerns about Gachagua's recent political manoeuvres, claiming that both himself and Ndindi Nyoro had been sidelined by the DP.
He also took issues with the DP’s apparent speaking out of tune with the President.
"I also want to remind the Deputy President that the most important duty after being elected as President is to unite all Kenyans. The President is a symbol of unity and should not be involved in discussions about shares," Ngunjiri said.
There are fears that Uhuru’s political orphans in Mt Kenya are aggressively regrouping and posing a major political hurdle for Gachagua’s unity bid for the vast region.
Former Mukurwe-ini MP Kabando wa Kabando has called on Gachagua to stop what he has termed as politics of ethnicity and vowed not to support his unity drive.
“I recognise him (Gachagua) as our DP. But for the record, I don't support him nor can I be among those greedy Mt Kenya Azimiosts he's recruiting for Ruto. Yes, I left a limping Azimio but I oppose Ruto,” Kabando said on X platform, formerly Twitter.
According to Gachagua, the reconciliation is aimed at cementing the unity of the Mt Kenya region to allegedly deliver a resounding victory for President William Ruto’s reelection bid in 2027.
However, political analysts now say the DP has crossed the rubicon after years of a vicious political war against Uhuru and has panicked that a disunited Mt Kenya would blow up his Ruto succession plans.
Others argue that the rumbles in the Mountain have forced the president to change his 2027 reelection by now focusing his energies on conquering enemy territories including the Western region.
Political science lecturer Professor Macharia Munene said it was too late for Gachagua to embark on reconciling with Uhuru.
“People did not like how he beat up Uhuru so badly during the inauguration. Uhuru was down because he had just been defeated in the election and Gachagua should have been magnanimous and respectful, but he blew the chance to show maturity. People did not like that,” he said.
“And at some point, he purported to ask Uhuru to look for him. How can that happen? Uhuru is a former president, [while] Gachagua is there courtesy of Ruto. I don’t think the man has advisers and if he has, he does not take advice.”
There are indications that the President is already engaged in early 2027 plans by dangling more carrots to the Western and Nyanza regions to win over new regions as a fallback plan over Mt Kenya.
Tellingly, the president last week made radical Cabinet changes that saw Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi elevated and handed the influential Foreign Affairs docket.
Analysts say the Mudavadi promotion could recast President Ruto’s succession battle, pulling the rag from under Gachagua’s following a perceived falling out with his boss.
Many see the elevation as part of Ruto's plans to prop him up as a possible successor.
Others view it as a calculated plan to check-mate Gachagua and keep Mt Kenya region on its toes ahead of the 2027 polls.
Gachagua has all along been seen as the sole heir to Ruto’s political constituency having aggressively backed up the President’s bid in the 2022 polls.
He is aggressively trying to consolidate Mt Kenya as a bargaining chip in the 2027 polls well aware that if he manages to get the support of Uhuru, he would be able to corner Ruto to give him a second chance.
Political analyst and university lecturer Herman Manyora said Ruto’s approach to focus on areas outside his traditional bases is born of the need for political security relative to the next election.
“It is an uncontested fact that President William Ruto owes his election to the plurality of votes he got from the Mount Kenya region. But going by the current political dynamic, is it a logical posture to sit pretty and bank on that constituency to deliver in 2027? My humble view is that it would be foolhardy,” he said.
Gachagua’s persistence with his talk of the Kenya Kwanza government being a shareholding company, where people reap benefits depending on their contribution in terms of votes, has unsettled Ruto’s camp.
Munene was blunter about the prospects of the DP, saying Gachagua should look into the mirror to see the chief hurdles that he must overcome first in his mission.
He opines that the DP has an image problem borne from his alleged carefree speech style. He says that the DP has overly focused on his ambition to be an ethnic chieftain at the expense of the need to serve as a national leader.
“He believes he is the leader of the people from the region but he is immature and they don’t like being led by someone who is like that,” the political analyst said.
“When he talks carelessly, he comes about as divisive and isolating the people from Mount Kenya,” he said, adding that the DP is trying hard to gain acceptance in the region but his efforts are not going far enough.