Many now believe the DCP boss will be the ‘enemy within’
scaring away the opposition base, and that he may end up killing any hopes of a
coalition to challenge Ruto’s re-election bid.
Gachagua, who is the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP)
leader, was trending last Sunday after he disclosed a ‘deal’ with Wiper Leader
Kalonzo Musyoka to have his party take most of the seats in Nairobi.
Speaking at a church service in Kariobangi, he claimed a
pact with Kalonzo to share seats in the capital.
“We have an agreement with the Wiper leader, who has been
helping ODM in Nairobi,” Gachagua said.
“The deal is to have the Governor, woman representative and
senator on DCP, while we have agreed, working with Wiper, to have at least 16
out of 17 MPs in our coalition.”
Observers interpreted this to mean he wants the seats to go
to his ethnic Kikuyu community, thereby locking other tribes from Nairobi
leadership, yet the capital is cosmopolitan.
Speaking in his native Kikuyu language, he told the
congregation that his community forms the majority of the population and owns
most business entities and must thus take over leadership.
The statement appeared to have caught even the Wiper leader
off guard.
He responded by dismissing the claim as ‘propaganda by
government functionaries’ seeking to create a rift within the opposition.
"Stop this propaganda that Wiper has left all the seats
in Nairobi for DCP. They have to try everything to create tensions between
us," Kalonzo said.
The statement by the DCP leader is not only said to have
jolted the United Opposition but the country at large.
Some people now think Ruto is a better bet, fearing that
Gachagua is pushing for ethnic as opposed to national interest.
Political analyst and Jubilee party official Pauline Njoroge
was among the first to question the DCP leader’s remarks, warning that such
narrative will cost the opposition dearly.
“If we insist on approaching 2027 with a single-tribe
mindset, simply because we desire to see a Kikuyu at City Hall, we will be
handing Ruto an easy through-pass,” she warned.
“He will mobilise every community that feels sidelined, and
Nairobi will slip from our hands as the United Opposition.”
Coast-based political analyst Kazungu Katana warns that the
DCP leader may be cannibalising the opposition and his own party with such
reckless remarks.
“I thought DCP stands for people's democracy. What happened
to the clarion call?” he asked.
“Anyway, Rigathi can say anything, that's his way of doing
politics. Put simply, he's lost his sense of reasoning, politically.”
The former Deputy President who was impeached in 2024 for
among other reasons tribalism, has never shied away from advancing the
interests of his community first.
He coined the phrase ‘usiguze mlima’ (don’t touch the
mountain) as his clarion call for safeguarding the interests of his community.
While serving as DP, Gachagua famously came up with the
‘shareholding’ slogan, which he used in justifying the non-inclusion of
communities that did not vote for Kenya Kwanza in the 2022 elections.
In late July, during his tour of the diaspora, he addressed
Kenyans living in the United States predominantly in his native Kikuyu language
during his month-long tour.
Gachagua’s choice attracted criticism, with some government
leaders accusing him of sowing division and disregarding national unity.
And recently, Gachagua has been having friction with former
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, whom he wanted to adopt a regional party instead of
Jubilee, which has a presence in Mt Kenya.
On Wednesday, Gachagua sought to firefight the claims of
tribalism, saying that declaring DCP a Nairobi zone was not a euphemism for
tribalism as his party is a ‘national party’.
He went ahead to woo ODM renegades Edwin Sifuna and Babu
Owino to join him if ODM pushes them out.
“You newspapers, don’t twist. Saying that Riggy G wants the
whole of Nairobi to go to Kikuyus. Just be professional and fair people. You
have a responsibility to be truthful, don’t twist narratives,” he said.
“Let nobody make me feel like I am committing a political
crime by marketing my party. That is my job. All these seats belong to every
tribe in Nairobi. Governor, senator, woman representative. We will mix all
Kenyans so that we will be the face of Kenya.”
Muranga Senator Joe Nyutu defended the DCP leader.
"What is tribal with Rigathi Gachagua saying that DCP will take up seats?
Gachagua did not talk about any tribe but the DCP. There is a lot of hypocrisy
in this country."
Ahead of last month’s by-election, Jubilee secretary general
Jeremiah Kioni claimed that Gachagua was secretly working to have a
post-election deal with President William Ruto.
"And he was saying, ‘By that time, I will have 7
million votes from the mountain region, 1 million from Kalonzo and 800,000 from
Matiang'i. I will now have more than half of the cake, and I will share some of
it with the Maasai community. So, Joshua, you should wait, we will nominate
you’."
