Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. George Saitoti (inset, right) and Mwai Kibaki (inset, left) served as vice presidents under then-President Daniel arap Moi and were openly criticised by politicians from their own backyards, the fate Mr Gachagua is currently facing.
“Even if there is a jinx around this position, at least President Ruto was allowed to do his job for five years without interruption or harassment. I’ve only done one year and what is happening to me is worse than what happened to Ruto.”
Those were the words of the embattled Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a recent interview that captured his current tribulation, and which mirrors past struggles by previous holders of the office.
But this appears to be the nature of the job. From the first Vice President, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, to other holders of the office like Daniel Arap Moi, Prof George Saiatoti, Joseph Murumbi, Dr Josephat Karanja, and Dr Ruto, who served as the first Deputy President, all underwent major political tribulations, some initiated by their bosses or power brokers around the presidency.
Reports of Mr Gachagua’s fallout with his boss, President William Ruto, started barely a year after they ironically swept to power by whipping emotions of their supporters around claims of mistreatment of then DP Ruto by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In the recent past, they have, however, constantly denied the reports and labelled them a creation of the media until the current escalation that culminated in the tabling of an impeachment motion on Tuesday.
Mr Gachagua has made it clear that his ouster can only be sanctioned by the President, literally taking the battle to Dr Ruto’s doorstep. Mr Gachagua is cornered and appears to have resigned to fate following the overwhelming endorsement of the motion by MPs.
Political kingpin
Some analysts and politicians have blamed Mr Gachagua for herding himself to the slaughter by his unbridled ambition to position himself as Mt Kenya's political kingpin, and repeatedly reminding the President that he would not have been elected without his backing. Mr Gachagua is also seen to be preparing himself to take on Dr Ruto in the 2027 presidential contest.
The current dogfight between Dr Ruto and Mr Gachagua, whose position as DP is protected by the Constitution, has since triggered a new debate on whether to review the Constitution to allow the President to appoint his or her deputy. However, even under the previous constitution, Vice Presidents underwent major political tribulations and were easily dismissed.
In the current case, the President has to marshal numbers – at least two-thirds of members of both the National Assembly and the Senate to oust the second in command. A record 291 MPs on Tuesday appended their signatures for the tabling of the motion that requires only a third (177) of the members.
Some of the previous holders were haunted and later hounded out of the office.
Before the 2010 constitution, the choice of deputy president – then known as Vice President – was largely left to the personal whims of the President. The Head of State could choose to fire and replace at the slightest political disagreement.
Currently, the DP position is protected by the constitution, with the two elected on a joint ticket.
This provision has made it difficult for the President to fire, unless through an impeachment by Parliament, but there is no protection from being sidelined from the running of the government.
Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli has since suggested a review of the law for the president to appoint his or her deputy. “The Deputy President should be an appointee of the President, not a running mate because when he is a running mate, he also feels he is the President,” said Mr Atwoli.
Ideological alignment
Article 147 of the Constitution states that “The Deputy President shall perform the functions conferred by this Constitution and any other functions of the President as the President may assign.” This makes the position like a Minister without a portfolio in the event of a fallout with the President.
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi says while the role of the Deputy President as the principal assistant to the President has remained constant, how they are appointed has changed.
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He says a successful partnership largely depends on the individual character and ideological alignment between the President and his deputy.
“As a cardinal rule, the Deputy President must demonstrate temperance, self-restraint, and moderation in the discharge of his duties and offer the President faithful advice, but strictly in private.
If the two are not ideologically aligned, the Deputy President must defer to the President and clothe himself with an aura of alignment in public, even as differences of views are robustly debated in private,” says Mr Omondi.
Machakos Deputy Governor, Francis Mwangangi, notes that most of the power struggles are largely over unfulfilled personal deals. He noted that in the last couple of weeks, Mr Gachagua has been telling his supporters that Dr Ruto would only be trusted if he honours the promise of protecting his deputy.
He also noted that some of the power struggles are because of the personalities of those involved. He cited the late former President Mwai Kibaki as having not experienced infighting with both Kalonzo Musyoka and Moody Awuori, who served as his vice president.
“The president should pick someone who can govern in their absence. But in most cases, the choice is driven by how many votes one can bring. There is also the question of personalities; some people get to the office and start planning on how to succeed their bosses,” said Mr Mwangangi.
Bromance
Javas Bigambo, a political analyst, says that the choice of running mate has largely been influenced by the desire to win elections and not a convergence of ideology.
“In the US, the running mate is picked to fill in the limitations of the candidate. In Kenya, we choose running mates so that they can bring votes to ensure a win. Ruto chose Rigathi because he was perceived to be the only one who could fight Uhuru and deliver the region. The choice is purely on how to win and not how to govern,” says Mr Bigambo.
“Rigathi thought he is now a co-president and believed he had a right to equal shares. Because of this, he started flexing his muscles and showing his raw ambitions. He should remember that he has few political ambitions.”
When they got into office in 2013, Dr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta started with matching suits and ties in a show of bromance, but this changed in their second term in office following a bitter fallout.
In the run-up to the last elections, Dr Ruto narrated how he suffered political attacks orchestrated by Mr Kenyatta and other individuals close to the then-president.
“Very many deputy presidents fought. It is an unfortunate situation. Given an opportunity, I would not allow my deputy president to be humiliated the way former deputy presidents have been humiliated and the way I have been humiliated,” said Dr Ruto on April 16, 2021.
“The way I worked with my boss from 2013-2017 is different from the way we have worked from 2017 to now, and it is a change of style. From 2013-2017, we worked as a pair and we conducted government business in a manner in which we agreed. I held most of the Cabinet meetings,” he said.
US-based Kenyan lecturer and political analyst, Prof David Monda, observed that “part of the problem in Kenya is the informal nature in which picking running mates is done. Kenya does not have ideologically driven parties that use party structures to pick, vet, and develop candidates through the ranks of the party into candidates for the highest offices in the land.”
“As a result, party tickets are usually done in a hurried process that is not transparent, obfuscates party norms, and picks running mates based on immediate political expediency rather than on party structures and ideologically driven agendas to deliver election manifestos to the electorate,” notes Prof Monda.
He said as a result ‘you will find running mates encountering political storms after successfully overcoming one election cycle in anticipation of the next.
“Ruto suffered the ignominy of being sidelined as DP as he became less politically useful post-2017. DP Gachagua is facing the same post-2022 in the run-up to 2027. The challenge is the main agenda of the election of these leaders to deliver to the public is relegated to the backburner as politicians engage in the merry-go-round of political horse-trading,” he observed.
Too radical
Before they fell out, Jomo Kenyatta and his deputy, Oginga Odinga, used to wear similar beaded beanies, although Mr Kenyatta was more flamboyant with his Savile Row suits, a knobby black walking stick, a silver-handled seigniorial fly whisk, a gigantic golden ring, and a gold Omega watch.
The late Mr Odinga was much more at home with his Communist Zhongshan suits and traditional walking stick and fly whisk.
The choice of Mr Odinga as Jomo Kenyatta’s vice-president came amidst some misgivings from the existing colonial government, which regarded Jaramogi as too radical.
The moment he was picked VP by Kenyatta, pressure on him to quit started. But it was the humiliation that he would later write about.
“On United Nations Day 1965, I was present at the commemorative meeting when a minister appeared to represent the President and to take the salute in the presence of myself as vice-president. Next, there was yet another shuffling of my functions as vice president. Responsibility for elections was removed from my portfolio, and given to a civil servant.”
In the resignation letter, Mr Odinga said, “You have not given me any consideration as your number 2 in state matters. I have a conscience and this does prick me when I earn public money but with no job to do.”
Joseph Murumbi, who served as the country’s second vice president, was hardly two months in the office when his tribulations started. He was appointed in May 1966, and by July, he put in his resignation letter.
When the late Moi was seen to be just a step away from becoming President in case Mr Kenyatta died in office, he became the punching bag of powerful individuals from Kiambu.
In his biography written by Andrew Morton, Moi recounted what happened one evening at State House, Nakuru.
“(Moi) was deliberately kept waiting by the President’s aide-de-camp, the Rift Valley provincial commissioner Isaiah Mathenge, who allowed numerous groups to call on the President while Moi sat patiently in the waiting room.
When Kenyatta rang through to see who was left, Mathenge replied: ‘There’s only Moi here.’ Then Kenyatta came out and started speaking Kikuyu, a language that Moi follows with difficulty.
In the end, he asked Moi to listen to a choir with him before discussing his business. During the singing, the President dozed off.”
“On at least two occasions, James Mungai (the Rift Valley provincial police commissioner) slapped Moi in the face in front of President Kenyatta at State House, Nakuru.
Moi’s motorcade was regularly stopped and searched by Mungai’s men outside Nakuru as he was returning to his home or his constituency. Mungai’s men regularly camped near Moi’s farmhouse at Kabarak to monitor his movements and often placed roadblocks at night on the roads that he would be taking on his way from Nakuru.
Prof Saitoti, who had always thought that he would succeed President Moi, also suffered a similar fate.
He would fall dramatically during a Kanu-NDP merger when he found that his name was missing from the list of vice-chairmen the night before.
In his book, Riding on a Tiger, former Vice President Moody Awori writes how Prof Saitoti was humiliated at Kasarani during the party’s National Delegates Conference.
“He (Moi) then announced a merger between KANU and NDP and the NDP flag was lowered amidst cheers from the 6,000 delegates. He further announced that it had been decided that in the new KANU, the position of National Vice Chairman had been abolished and four Vice Chairmen’s positions created,” says Mr Awori.
“Joseph Kamotho, the Kanu super-hawk, and apologist, was treated so despicably that he did not even defend his seat. He called it kichinjio or slaughterhouse. As a result, Raila was elected unopposed (as Kanu Secretary General). The President was also elected Kanu National Chairman, unopposed.
According to Mr Awori, President Moi reminded Prof Saitoti that Kanu had “its owners.”
Dr Josephat Njuguna Karanja, who served as the country’s fifth
