By Anderson Ojwang
Sometime last year, when President William Ruto visited the Mountain, the self-declared King of Murima, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, told the President that the community’s engagement with him would be transactional going forward.
He also invoked the famous Gikuyu proverb “njogu ndikigagwo na mũgoongo” (an elephant is never buried with its tusks), a phrase that has since come back to haunt him and ultimately made him eat humble pie after the just-concluded Mbeere North by-election.
“We must relate with him in one way or another. We know how to converse; we don’t do it in public meetings. We are very silent. There was agreement and understanding among the Mountain people that our relationship with the President going forward is commercial and transactional.
People of the Mountain are business people. We say if anybody has some money to bring to us, we take it. Because even if you own a shop, you don’t have to like all those who buy from you. What is important is the money, and we asked our people to come out. You saw the buses, mobilization, and there was too much money,” he said.
Indeed, the Mountain became transactional during the Mbeere North by-election, with Gachagua claiming that the government was spending over Sh600 million in the campaigns.
While speaking at A.C.K St. Stephen’s Karangare Church in Ishiara before the election, he claimed the government was using significant financial resources to support UDA candidate Leonard “Leo” Muriuki, popularly known as Leo wa Muthende.
Gachagua alleged that money was being used to sway voters and urged residents to make independent decisions at the ballot. He further claimed that the funds being used were public resources.
“Take all the money they bring here — some Sh600 million. That money is enough to connect every home in Mbeere North with power,” he said, adding that residents should make their own voting choices.
“Do not be worried. They will not steal our votes. We will be vigilant,” he said.
In the end, the united opposition candidate Newton Karish lost the election, and Gachagua distanced himself from the by-election, saying his party did not have a candidate and that he had only gone to support the DP candidate.
Gachagua insisted he was not concerned about whether President Ruto called himself the King of the Mountain.
“I am not fighting with the President for the control of the Mountain. I heard him say he is the King of the Mountain. Let him be the King of the Mountain. If he is the King of the Mountain, he needed not go around. He should have just used his chopper to land at the Lenana Peak and pronounce himself as the King. They have told me they will not agree to be divided and that our vote will go into one basket,” he said.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki dismissed Gachagua’s claims of being the Mountain’s king, terming him a “small man.”
“Hi tabia ya kujitangaza wewe mwenyewe eti ‘mimi ndio mkubwa wa hii mlima.’ Nani alikuchagua mkubwa wa mlima? I am the senior-most political leader in Mt Kenya region, for the avoidance of doubt.”
Gachagua had dared President Ruto to join the campaigns in Mbeere North, but the President avoided direct involvement and instead deployed his deputy to lead the contest.
“Wewe Kasongo kuja. Mimi niko area na watu wa Mbeere. Tuoneze we kivumbi sasa. Hapana tuma mfanyakazi. Wewe Kasongo kuja mwenyewe. Huyu Kasongo watu wa Mbeere wamekula pesa yake — amenyolewa.” Gachagua said.
Through Kindiki, Ruto reasserted himself as the Mountain’s king by winning the by-election and delivering political revenge on his former deputy.
“Unakuja na kimbelembele na kiherehere. Wewe kwenda huko bwana na uachane na mimi. Wewe Goliathi, umetesza watu siku mingi. Siku zako zimeisha — Alhamisi tunakumalizia. Fire si fire,” Kindiki said at a rally.
Gachagua often uses the proverb about the elephant and its tusks to suggest that despite his fallout with President Ruto, the region cannot afford to “bury the elephant with its tusks.”
To him, these top government officials are the elephants that must be allowed to bring national government projects to the region before they can turn against Ruto in the 2027 General Election.
Leading the list are Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Cabinet Secretaries Alice Wahome, William Kabogo, Mutahi Kagwe, Lee Kinyanjui, Geoffrey Ruku, Eric Muriithi, and Rebecca Miano.
But instead of preserving the tusks, they not only removed them — they handed him a decisive defeat at the ballot.
Ruku summed it up, saying Kindiki would not serve only one term as deputy president but would complete his second term and later become Kenya’s sixth president.
“2027 tunachagua President William Ruto na Kithure Kindiki. Na tukimaliza 2032 sisi kama Mlima tutaungana na Kenya yote kuhakikisha kwamba Kindiki amekuwa rais wa Kenya. Tunaona mbali kama giraffe,” he said.
