What could be the reason why DP Gachagua has decided to conduct his political activities alone and not alongside his boss, President Ruto? Another big question that requires urgent answers is, why would Mr Gachagua be away from such a function, yet he is the one the President handed the management of the tea, coffee, and milk subsectors to?
The rate at which the rift between President William Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua is widening is a worrying trend that needs to be put under control. Barely a week after DP Gachagua skipped the first two days of President Ruto’s visit to the Nyanza region and only joined him towards the tail end of the tour, the DP was again conspicuously missing during a milk stakeholders’ meeting held at State House Nakuru.
But what could be the reason why Gachagua has decided to conduct his political activities alone and not alongside his boss, Ruto? Those trying to paint a rosy picture to Kenyans that all is well between the two will argue that Mr Gachagua was engaged elsewhere but The Weekly Vision has discovered that when President Ruto was chairing the very important meeting at State House Nakuru, his DP was in Narok West constituency, attending the constituency’s development strategic plan for 2023-2024.
The big question that requires urgent answers is, why would Mr Gachagua be away from such a function, yet he is the one the President handed the management of the tea, coffee, and milk subsectors to? Was the launch of a constituency’s development plan more important than the State House, Nakuru meeting? Mr Gachagua’s absence was noticed by many, and there are murmurs within the presidents’ camp that the DP is now showing open defiance against his boss.
The president’s handlers are now said to be burning the midnight oil, planning how best they can contain the DP and the expected rebellion in parts of Mount Kenya region. Nonetheless, his absence did not stop the function from proceeding, but what is now worrying the president’s insiders is that the Narok meeting turned out to be a venue where the president was openly criticized by speaker after speaker. The leaders who addressed the Narok meeting seemed to have been briefed on what to say, and they followed the script, attacking the president.
What also came out is that the DP used his allies to attack the president while he kept off the controversial “government shares” calls while his troops made it the topic of discussion. The first salvo was from Kitui East MP Nimrod Mbai, who is a UDA MP. Without mincing words and what seemed to have been a well-scripted speech, which he executed very well, he told those who cared to listen that it was wrong for the president to take development projects to Nyanza, who had voted for Raila Odinga to a man in the last elections.
In his scathing attack, the MP wondered why the DP’s backyard of Mount Kenya was being sidelined in terms of development while areas that voted for the opposition 100 per cent are now enjoying the fruits of development. One therefore wonders why Gachagua had to use the MP to push his agenda during such an event. Sources say the DP is now using MPs and politicians perceived not to be in good books with the president. Mbai is said to have fallen out with the president after he assaulted a Kenya Power staff that had allegedly disconnected an illegal power connection to his home.
Sources say his attempts to reach the president to avoid arrest and public humiliation failed. It was after that, that he declared war against the president. It is for this reason that the DP chose him to drive home his dissatisfaction with his boss over the Nyanza tour.
The other MP the DP used to drive home his agenda was Dan Wanyama of Webuye West. In his address, he also attacked the president for sidelining the regions that voted for him but taking development to opposition strongholds. Wanyama is also known to have fallen out with Ruto after he threatened to impeach National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula. Wanyama claimed that Wetangula was using his Ford Kenya party to discriminate against UDA MCAs in the County Assembly of Bungoma.
“If Wetang’ula doesn’t want to work with us, then I will also present a motion to remove him from office,” he said. Wanyama claimed that there are allegations of Ford Kenya leadership threatening to remove UDA MCAs from the committees they belong to. “The UDA leadership has received reports that Ford Kenya has planned to remove UDA MCAs from Bungoma County Assembly whenever they are seen attending UDA meetings,” he said.
Interestingly, when Gachagua took to the podium, he avoided making any comment on what the two MPs and others had said about the president’s Nyanza tour. Politically speaking, the event was well planned to send a political warning to Ruto that even if he is sidelining his DP, he has MPs and politicians who are still loyal to him and who are ready to push his agenda.
Sources say Gachagua is busy consolidating his political base by recruiting MPs and politicians known to have very little time for the president. The looming fallout between the president and his deputy is now a major concern for Kenyans, and more so for the Kenyan Kwanza. Analysts say it is now a matter of time before the two starts quarrelling in public, as was witnessed between William Ruto and retired president Uhuru Kenyatta.
