Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In Greek mythology, a story is told of Icarus the son of Daedalus who ignored his father’s instruction not to fly too close to the Sun or too low while the two were escaping from King Minos. Intoxicated by the experience of flight, Icarus flew higher and higher in the sky and as the wax in his wings melted, he tumbled into the sea and drowned.
The myth appears to sum up the predicament of besieged Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who is now facing the ignominy of being the first DP to be removed from office by impeachment.
A one-term MP catapulted to United Democratic Alliance leader Dr William Ruto’s running mate by a quirk of fate in 2022 and eventually the deputy president, Mr Gachagua seems to be someone who tried to “reach too high” too soon and it backfired.
Reckless and overly ambitious, Mr Gachagua assumed the second highest office in Kenya with gusto and at one time punched way above the weight of his office.
Just under six months into office, the former Mathira MP declared himself the guardian of State House where his work was to ensure that those who did not support Kenya Kwanza were locked out of all government plum positions.
Accordingly, his work was to control queues at State House and decide who was ahead of whom in the distribution of government positions, forgetting to adhere to Robert Greene’s book: The 48 Laws of Power.
The DP openly described the new government as a company of shareholders where some Kenyans are majority shareholders while others have no shares.
Unapologetic, he said government appointments and contracts are a preserve of those who voted for the ruling regime with the least consideration given to members of the opposition.
“Their (opposition) time of reaping will come someday in what remains after those who sowed have finished reaping,” said the DP while speaking in Kericho in February 2023.
“You invested in this government and you must reap. You sowed, tilled, put manure and irrigated, and now it is time to reap,” he added.
However, little did the self-proclaimed “truthful man” know that he would be the first to reap from the seeds he sowed since taking over as the second-in-command.
Dead man walking
Going by the number of MPs who have signed the impeachment motion against the DP, the man from Mathira appears to be a “dead man walking”.
Moving the notice of impeachment motion, Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse revealed that 291 MPs signed the petition against a requirement of 117 lawmakers, signaling a case of the DP’s goose being as good as cooked.
Only 233 legislators are needed to vote in support of any of the grounds to have the motion sail to the Senate for the last leg of the impeachment trial.
A closer look at the appended signatures reveals a broad-based support for the removal of Mr Gachagua with over 120 MPs from Kenya Kwanza side appending their signatures as well as slightly more than 100 opposition legislators following suit.
Even his own MP, a man he picked to succeed him, Eric Wamumbi, departed him in the hour of need, readily signing the notice that would send his neck to the guillotine.
Yesterday, Speaker Moses Wetang’ula approved the motion, saying all 11 grounds for removal from office of the DP had met the constitutional threshold.
In recent days, the 59-year-old has been on the receiving end of attacks from President Ruto’s allies from within and without the Mt Kenya region.
Finding himself increasingly isolated in the Kenya Kwanza’s administration, the son of Mau Mau has decided to take the fight to his boss as it all became too clear that there was no turning back with the impeachment plans.
On Sunday, he told his boss that kicking him out of office would not be a walk in the park, saying he will not go down without a fight.
He claimed that from the meetings he has held over the past one week, the people from Mt Kenya region are not interested in seeing him out of government.
“I have toured the Mt Kenya region and my people on the ground have told me I should not get shaken,” said a man who describes himself as “listener of the ground”.
He went on to challenge the President to come clear whether it was Ford Foundation or officers from his office who funded the deadly Gen Z protests in June and July this year, which happened across 35 counties.
“After all the President said, they were sponsored by Ford Foundation. So who sponsored the Gen Zs, was it the people in my office or the Ford Foundation?” he posed.
Not reading the signs, Mr Gachagua went ahead to say that any impeachment motion can only be sanctioned by the President.
“Any impeachment motion against me has to be endorsed by the President and if he tells them to kick me out, then Kenyans will lose faith in him,” he said.
The statement comes after the DP had last week warned his boss to stop any impeachment plans against him or face the consequences of such a move, which he described as “ultimate betrayal”.
He cautioned the President to tread carefully, saying Mt Kenya people hate betrayers and he risks losing the trust and support of the region should the ouster plot go ahead.
The DP reminded his boss that he is the greatest beneficiary of the people of Mt Kenya’s distaste for betrayal and as such, he should avoid the politics of betrayal.
Accept the fate
But speaking to local radio stations on Monday, the DP seemed to have accepted his fate, saying he is ready to accept the decision of MPs regarding his removal from office.
“I am just a weak man and I am in the hands of MPs and senators. I will accept their decision together with my people,” Mr Gachagua said.
In recent days, Mr Gachagua has been on the receiving end of attacks by Ruto’s political allies from the Mt Kenya region, who accuse the deputy president of risking local development projects by allegedly fomenting rebellion in government.
Last week, more than 40 MPs representing constituencies in Mt Kenya renounced their loyalty to the DP, declaring allegiance to his regional political rival, the Interior Minister Prof Kithure Kindiki.
Mr Gachagua has been regarded as the region’s political spokesman by virtue of his holding the second highest office in government.
Believed to hold presidential ambitions of his own, the DP could find himself undergoing the curse of the Kenyan vice presidency or deputy presidency.
There are already signs that the President could be planning to hand Prof Kindiki an expanded role in government, echoing the power shifts in the previous administration of Uhuru Kenyatta when then Interior CS Fred Matiang’i was seen to overshadow then DP Ruto.
Of the 12 people who have served in that role since independence, all have had a public fallout with the President or faced some form of mistreatment by people close to his boss except four.
They include the late Joseph Murumbi who officially resigned on account of ill-health in 1966, Musalia Mudavadi who served for three months in 2002, Kijana Wamalwa who died in office in 2003, and Moody Awori who succeeded Wamalwa for the remainder of the Mwai Kibaki administration’s first term ending 2008.
Three of the falling out escapees – Murumbi, Wamalwa and Mudavadi – were each in office for no longer than nine months.
