By Anderson Ojwang
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua can aptly be said to be walking in the footsteps of Kenya’s first vice President the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Just like Jaramogi, who served under Kenyatta for two years before he resigned as Vice President, Kanu and a member of Parliament cited frustrations.
Rigathi was also impeached two years in the office following allegations of propagating tribalism and alleged abuse of office.
Jaramogi founded Kenya’s People Union (KPU) that he had hoped to force a mini election after he had anticipated majority of his supporters would resign from the parliament.
Jaramogi’s Nyanza became his solid political block and locked the founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta from Nyanza, intense ethnic rivalry ,tension and mistrust became part and parcel of the Lake and the Murima.
Currently, the same template is being replayed in the country with two different characters, President William Ruto and Rigathi.
Rigathi has gone to fence off the Mountain from President Ruto and presently, he has managed to lock the president from Murima and his vast political fortunes in the region have continued to dwindle.
The old pattern, between Kenyatta and Odinga is replaying itself, with the Valley and the Murima developing rivalry and mistrust. Rigathi has also announced that in May this year, he will unveil a new party for Murima and that UDA party was a shell and dead in the region.
Just like Odinga built his dynasty in Nyanza, Rigathi is out to build his own power base in Murima and currently is seen as the king.
“ The entire Mountain left with me and followed me to Wamunyoro. I am their leader and Ruto cannot take that away, We will be king or king maker and there is nothing wrong about that,” he said.
The Murima has remained a constant in all the two major unfolding political scenario which continues to shape the country’s political landscape.
In a KTN television Interview, Rigathi said “ When I left the office, the people of my region felt that we needed to consult on the way forward because as a community we felt very bad.
The community felt totally misused by president Ruto, they felt deceived and we needed to consult extensively. As their leader they asked me to do that consultation,” he said.
Rigathi is mastering Raila’s scheme and now is preparing his supporters in the parliament, senate and county assembly to resign and seek re-election to elevate the party and himself ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Our political party is ready and for some strategic reasons, we did not want to unveil it until May. One of the reasons was, we wanted the Independent Election and Boundary Commission (IEBC) to be constituted.
This was because quite a number of our senators and members of parliament want to resign from UDA and join our new party and go for by-elections.
My people thought for us to get the right momentum , it is better for us to launch the party when IEBC is in place. I have got quite a number of people who are through with UDA.
They do not want anything to do with UDA especially from the Mountain, because the whole Mountain has moved from UDA. By the way, UDA now is a shell. Without Riggy, there is no UDA in the mountain, There is no party there.
You realize even MPs who move around with the President, they do not even talk about UDA and even the president they don’t mention him on the ground.
We decided to wait for IEBC to be constituted and we will have several by-elections. As of today, we have 139 members of the county Assembly (MCAS) who want to resign from UDA and go for by-elections.
We are going to force a little mini-general election after IEBC is constituted. Because our people do not want to live a lie. The mountain, people are honest, and people of integrity. When they are through with something, they are through.
They will repeat what Raila Odinga did in 1994, and I admire Raila Odinga, he left Ford Kenya and went NDP, resigned and was elected and since that time, his career has been rosy.
I am encouraging my MCAs, MPs and senators the ones who make that very brave decision, I want to assure them that the way I am listening to our people, any leader who makes that decision will be re-elected without a doubt, they will be heroes of our people and their politics will be rosy for the period to come. The party will be the home for the Murima. Politics is local.
I am the leader of the Mountain and President Ruto did not understand this. The entire Mountain left with me and followed with me to Wamunyoro.
That is why you find the place is a beehive of activities. The meetings you see on social media are the few ones we report.
There are several other meetings we don’t report. We are secretive. serious decisions have been made by the community on how we proceed going forward.
One of the reasons, is that we are through with President William Ruto for betraying and deceiving the Mountain.
Political analyst Mr. Odoyo Owidi said Rigathi is borrowing heavily from Jaramogi and Raila’s school of politics to deconstruct president Ruto.
“If you keen watch Rigathi brand of politics, you will realize and understand that is replaying Raila’s and Jaramogi scripts and soon he may be the main kingmaker in this country,” he said.
Odoyo said Rigathi is selling hope to the people of the mountain and turned President Ruto into a tool of hate to the Murima and this is gaining traction in the region.
