DP Rigathi Gachagua should resign to remain relevant

What many Kenyans thought was a mind game and political chess meant to divert their attention from the difficulties they go through and dwell on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s tribulations has become real.

It seems Mr Gachagu’s die is cast and the chickens are coming home to roost. The frosty relationship between Mr Gachagua and President William Ruto is turning out to be his Achilles’ heel. The mood of Mr Gachagua’s ouster through Parliament has now engulfed Kenya, and unless the invisible happens, his goose is cooked.

Many Kenyans believe that Mr Gachagua has shot himself in the foot. He swallowed what initially seemed to be harmless hook, line and sinker by upping the ante without clearly looking over his shoulders to assess the bandwagon that was building up to take him to the slaughterhouse.

Worse still, many lawmakers from his Mount Kenya backyard, where he still believes he is the kingpin, have unsheathed their swords ready to finish the job. While the DP traverses his bastion, amplifies his tribulations and, in the process, steps on local MPs’ toes through his bold and unstoppable utterances, to the extent of referring to some elected leaders as traitors, he has opened the floodgates for his camp to play to the gallery.

This is godsend for the President and his allies if their scheme was to remove Mr Gachagua from the government. Riggy G has made his bed and all that remains is to lie in it.

Kenya’s history is replete with politicians who have stayed put even when the best thing to save face was to resign, and Mr Gachagua adds to that long list, knowing that besides impeachment, which is the preserve of the bicameral Parliament, the President cannot touch him. Though the DP is right, the best thing to do is to resign. Even if the impeachment fails, the damage would be irreparable as the duo would have a difficult working relationship in the remaining years to the 2027 election.

Mr Gachagua should have learned from history. During the Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki eras, the number two was always seen and not heard. They acted at the behest of their bosses. The role of the deputy, therefore, should be that of a cheerleader. Mr Gachagua is bold, but that won’t ward off the tide coming to sweep him. The best act is to resign and remain relevant politically.

David Kigo, Nairobi