NAIROBI, June 10, 2026 — President William Ruto’s digital strategist Dennis Itumbi has sparked fresh political debate after claiming that Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has settled on Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna as his preferred running mate for the 2027 General Election.
In a lengthy open letter circulated on social media and addressed to a figure he referred to as “Jofri”, a name widely interpreted in political circles as a reference to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Itumbi laid out what he described as the opposition’s emerging political strategy ahead of the next election.
According to Itumbi, Kalonzo and Sifuna are expected to lead a coalition under the banner of the Ukombozi Linda Mwananchi Alliance, bringing together Kalonzo’s Komboa Kenya campaign and Sifuna’s Linda Mwananchi movement.
The strategist further alleged that the opposition has already identified key candidates for Nairobi’s top elective seats.
He claimed Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has been earmarked for the Nairobi governor race, while former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Irungu Nyakera is being considered for the Senate seat.
In a pointed attack on Gachagua, Itumbi claimed the opposition leadership had rejected advice allegedly advocating for a Kikuyu candidate in the Nairobi governor contest, suggesting growing tensions over the direction of opposition politics and the role of the Mount Kenya region within the coalition.
The most serious allegations in Itumbi’s statement concerned the planned protests scheduled for June 24 and June 25, as well as the anticipated Saba Saba demonstrations.
Without providing evidence, Itumbi accused Gachagua of being the architect of the planned protests and claimed the former deputy president follows a recurring pattern of distancing himself from events when demonstrations turn chaotic.
The allegations are likely to intensify an already heated political environment as opposition leaders continue to mobilise supporters against the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Neither Kalonzo, Sifuna nor Gachagua had publicly responded to Itumbi’s claims by Wednesday evening.
The remarks come at a time of heightened political activity within opposition ranks. Kalonzo recently intensified his Komboa Kenya campaign, signalling his intention to mount another presidential bid, while Sifuna and allies associated with the Linda Mwananchi movement have been conducting political rallies across several regions.
Political observers view Itumbi’s intervention as part of the increasingly aggressive battle for narrative control ahead of 2027.
While some interpret the claims as an attempt to expose and potentially destabilise opposition plans, others argue the level of detail contained in the statement suggests deep knowledge of ongoing discussions within rival political camps.
The claims also place fresh pressure on Gachagua, who has been seeking to consolidate support following his fallout with President Ruto and subsequent impeachment battles.
Whether Itumbi’s assertions reflect genuine political realignments or form part of a broader contest for public opinion remains unclear. What is certain is that the statement has injected fresh intrigue into an opposition landscape that is still taking shape more than a year before the next General Election.
Kirinyaga County Women Representative Jane Njeri Maina has lit a political firestorm inside the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), publicly accusing the party’s own Deputy Leader, former Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, of operating as a covert agent for President William Ruto’s government while posing as a committed opposition figure.
The accusations, delivered in an incendiary post on her X account on Wednesday, have rocked a party already battered by defections and whispers of infiltration, and have thrust into the open what many DCP insiders had long suspected in private.
Maina, a close Gachagua loyalist who has stood with the former Deputy President since his turbulent impeachment in October 2024, alleged that Malala convened a secret night gathering of Kirinyaga Members of County Assembly allied to Governor Anne Waiguru, doing so between 8 pm and 10 pm on Tuesday evening at the Golden Palm hotel in Kenol, Murang’a County.
The meeting’s stated purpose, she claimed, was to recruit and organise a rival internal bloc designed to undercut Gachagua’s grassroots foot soldiers in Kirinyaga ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Most damaging was her claim about the money.
Maina alleged that Malala disbursed Ksh 20,000 to each MCA who attended, funds she said were furnished by forces intent on fracturing DCP from within.
She accused those financiers of seeking to derail what she called the “united alternative government,” a reference to the opposition coalition that Gachagua has been painstakingly constructing with Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper party since his removal from office.
Addressing Malala directly in language that was withering in its contempt, Maina wrote: “I do not know who you work for, nor do I want to speculate.” She reminded him of what she described as a pattern of soliciting funds from multiple political actors in exchange for favours, a practice she said he had developed while serving as UDA’s Secretary General.
“Unfortunately, it seems that you have not changed one bit,” she wrote, before issuing what amounted to a declaration of open war. “So bring it on, you shall face off with me where the rubber meets the road. In case you forgot, where I come from, we milk lions while seated on porcupines.”
The charges, even by the scorched-earth standards of Kenyan intraparty politics, carry particular weight because of the broader context in which they land. For months, Gachagua himself had been warning that Ruto’s camp had planted moles inside DCP, publicly vowing in January to eject them one by one.
“Within my team, we knew who the Ruto spies were. DCP is intact, no one is leaving,” Gachagua said at the time. He stopped short of naming Malala. On Wednesday, Maina appeared to remove any remaining ambiguity.
Malala’s trajectory inside DCP has been shadowed by suspicion almost from the start. He joined the party as Interim Deputy Leader when Gachagua unveiled DCP in Lavington in May 2025, brought in as a bridge figure whose Western Kenya profile and national name recognition could help the party escape the charge that it was purely a Mount Kenya tribal vehicle.
The two men had been bonded by a shared experience of political ejection: Malala had been ousted from UDA’s Secretary General position after he opposed Gachagua’s impeachment, and the former DP welcomed him into DCP with considerable fanfare.
But the questions began piling up. Malala missed the party’s three-day strategy retreat in Mombasa in January, his absence drawing sharp comment from delegates who found an empty chair where he should have been sitting.
He had also been conspicuously absent from a string of DCP public rallies over the preceding weeks. When political analysts began speculating openly about a possible defection back to UDA, Gachagua gave him cover, citing illness sustained after the annual Malala Super Cup football tournament in Kakamega.
“He was in Kakamega for the Super Cup, after which he fell seriously ill and asked me for permission to rest,” Gachagua told a radio interviewer in January, insisting the party was intact.
Maina’s allegations on Wednesday suggest the explanation has worn thin. Her post also hinted at prior private confrontations between herself and Malala, describing his alleged nocturnal meeting in Kenol as the moment he had “crossed the Rubicon.” The phrase signals a break that, in her view, can no longer be managed behind closed doors.
The Waiguru dimension of the affair adds a charged subplot.
The Kirinyaga Governor, who has publicly and repeatedly rejected overtures to join DCP, declared in December 2025 that, as she put it, “kwa Wamunyoro siendi,” signalling she would not align with Gachagua’s camp.
She has maintained her positioning within Ruto’s orbit, and the former DP has in turn accused most of Kirinyaga’s MCAs of having been “pocketed” by the county government, predicting they would be voted out for betraying the community.
Governor for Kirinyaga County Anne Waiguru
Waiguru dismissed those accusations as misleading, and had not responded to Maina’s latest allegations by the time of publication.
Malala had not issued any public denial on his social media platforms as of Wednesday evening, though associates quoted by political commentators suggested he had privately warned Maina to prepare for a bruising nominations battle in 2027, an implicit threat that their disagreement would follow them all the way to the ballot.
Malala’s history in Kirinyaga is not without its own ironies. It was he who chaired the Senate committee that in 2020 cleared Waiguru of an impeachment motion brought against her by the county assembly, a piece of political history that his critics within DCP now invoke to argue that his loyalties were never truly with Gachagua’s camp.
For DCP, which will spend most of 2026 attempting to expand beyond its Central Kenya stronghold and prove it can deliver results in the 2027 cycle, the timing of this eruption could not be worse.
The party already absorbed the blow of Juja MP George Koimburi’s defection in late 2025. Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has signalled a drift back toward the Ruto administration. Nakuru grassroots officials threatened to bolt in January.
Against that backdrop, a public allegation by one of the party’s most visible elected legislators that its own second-in-command is a State House plant threatens to inflict damage that no amount of denial can easily repair.
Gachagua’s office had not released any comment by the time this story went to press. Whether he will move against Malala, shield him once more, or simply allow the accusation to smoulder in the public domain may be the defining political test of his leadership as the opposition road to 2027 grows steeper and more treacherous with every passing week.
She was his deputy director of communications. She sat in on strategy sessions, drafted his public statements and watched, up close, how Rigathi Gachagua operated.
Now Martha Miano, who served in that capacity in the Office of the Deputy President before Gachagua fired her in August 2024, has turned the full force of what she knows against the man she once served, and what she has put into words is nothing short of dynamite.
In a lengthy and furious Facebook post that she makes no effort to retract, Miano has accused the former Deputy President and now aspiring 2027 presidential candidate of impregnating and causing the deaths of two university students, one from Murang’a and one from Nyeri, while he held the second highest office in the land. She has further accused him of impregnating the wife of his late brother.
She has named the Olivia Gardens property in what she describes as a fraud against his deceased brother’s children.
And she has made the most explosive allegation of all: that Gachagua hatched a plan, in a private office he called “mlima,” to have his former personal assistant Francis Ngotho Maina killed, paying a down payment of five million shillings to hitmen before Ngotho was saved by one of those same hitmen.
Gachagua has not publicly responded to the specific allegations contained in Miano’s post.
The Woman Who Refused to Be Silenced
To understand what has pushed Miano to this point, one must understand her history with Gachagua. She was among the bloggers he hired when he was building his political communications machinery, brought in for her digital footprint and Kikuyu community reach.
She rose within his orbit to become Deputy Director of Public Communications, a formal government posting. She was, by all accounts, effective and visible.
Then in August 2024, as Gachagua’s feud with President William Ruto was reaching its boiling point, both Miano and Ngotho received termination letters citing incompetence.
The letters, dated August 20, 2024, arrived via social media before either of them had seen the originals. Miano, characteristically, handled it with public grace at the time, telling followers she walked away with her head high and her conscience clear.
But Gachagua, it appears, would not leave her alone.
In her Facebook post, Miano says that even while she was pregnant, Gachagua was calling around asking who the father of her child was, attempting to humiliate her publicly.
She says she had on a prior occasion already made clear she would never be in a romantic relationship with him, calling him “an old man, old enough to be my father.” She accuses him of having sent bloggers to attack her personal life, and says he brought her father, whom she refers to as “Baba Wairimu,” to Mombasa specifically to badmouth her on the first day of 2024.
It is in response to all of this, she says, that she has chosen to fight back. And she has chosen to fight with receipts.
The Girls Who Wrote Notes to Their Unborn Children
The most devastating allegations in Miano’s post concern two young women she says Gachagua impregnated during his tenure as Deputy President. She describes them as girls from poor rural backgrounds, aged between twenty and twenty-three, who she says were targeted precisely because of their vulnerability.
“These girls cannot speak up for themselves to tell a man of that stature to use protection,” she writes. “Those ones from the village have no idea how contraceptives are used or even where to get them. And at that age they are also super fertile so one wrong move, they get pregnant.”
Miano is not speaking into a vacuum. One of those cases already has a documented public record that trails directly to Nyeri and to a young woman who, in the weeks before her death, wrote a Valentine’s Day message to her unborn child.
Her name was Regina Wairimu. She was twenty-two years old, a fourth-year Telecommunications and Electrical Engineering student at Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri County.
In January 2023, she had formally deferred her studies, her university records showing she was seven and a half months pregnant at the time.
In one of her notebooks, she left a message for her child that has since haunted everyone who has read it: “To my unborn son: I love you. My Baby Daddy is bringing complications since he is powerful and influential. But I must give birth to you and show you momma love.”
On February 12, 2023, Regina was pronounced dead. Her baby was found dead inside a travelling bag. A post-mortem conducted by Dr. Bill Muriuki on February 17 found multiple lesions on the walls of her uterus and products of conception still inside her.
The cause of death was recorded as severe haemorrhage. The baby was eight and a half months into gestation.
Police investigations established that Regina had arrived at a bedsitter in Kangemi estate, Nyeri, at approximately 2 am on the night in question, in the company of two women. Blood stains were found on the carpet and in the bathroom.
There was evidence of a deliberate attempt to clean it off. The two women accompanying Regina told police the stains were from menstrual blood.
They said the three of them had been at a Nyeri bar where Regina had gone to meet her “influential baby daddy,” who was accompanied at the bar by his personal DJ. Regina and the baby daddy, according to these women, left the club together before returning minus the man shortly after 1:30 am.
By 10 am the next morning, Regina could no longer walk. She was carried to a taxi by the two women and two male tenants and driven to the university health centre, where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The taxi was carrying two safari bags.
The two women tried to distance themselves from the bags. The ambulance driver loaded them into the vehicle anyway. At Nyeri Level Five Referral Hospital, the bags were opened. One contained a dead foetus. The other contained bloody clothing.
Regina’s family buried mother and child in a single casket in Macegeca village. Her mother, Elizabeth Wambui, told reporters at the time: “If it was an abortion she needed, we are not a poor family and she could have tricked us into sending her money. She could not have sought a study deferment of nine months so as to go seeking a crude abortion.” Her father, Kenneth Kinyanjui, described what he was seeing as “manipulation, stage management and a deliberate push to sell a narrative that is illogical, illiterate and outright unacceptable.”
Pallbearers carry to the grave the remains of Regina Wairimu, 22, on February 21, 2023, who until her death was a fourth-year engineering student at the Dedan Kimathi University in Nyeri County.
Fresh details that have circulated since point to a cover-up involving a prominent Nyeri politician.
Shortly after Regina’s death, a young woman and a male companion reportedly visited the family in a luxury vehicle, offering to settle the matter and make it disappear.
The family refused. Forensic investigators noted that Regina’s phone had been formatted to erase all records. Witnesses went silent. No one has been charged. The case remains open.
The family of Regina Wairimu now wants Rigathi Gachagua to come clean.
That is their position on record. Kenya Insights has also been informed of a second case involving a young woman from Murang’a County, also described as being in her early twenties, also said to have been pregnant by a powerful man whose identity has not been publicly established.
The details of that case have not been independently verified by this publication, but Miano references it explicitly in her Facebook post, asking Gachagua by name: “Do you know this 22-year-old girl from Murang’a who was killed pregnant?”
The Ngotho Plot: A Down Payment to Kill
If the allegations involving the two students represent Gachagua’s alleged cruelty toward the powerless, Miano’s allegations about Francis Ngotho Maina represent something else entirely: the alleged elimination of inconvenient insiders.
Ex-DP Rigathi Gachagua during interview in Boston
Ngotho served as Gachagua’s personal assistant from his days as Mathira Member of Parliament through his time as Deputy President.
He was, by all accounts that have since emerged, one of the most trusted men in Gachagua’s inner circle. Ngotho held access to the former DP’s private affairs, his schedules, his conversations, his secrets.
Then came the impeachment in October 2024. Ngotho did not go down with his boss. Five days after the Senate upheld Gachagua’s removal from office, Ngotho resurfaced, now aligned with the other side.
A letter from State House formalized his transition. Gachagua, according to multiple sources and his own subsequent public statements, felt betrayed. He accused Ngotho of selling secrets.
Miano’s post offers a different narrative. She says Ngotho has, in fact, been a gentleman who kept what he knows as a matter of personal integrity, not because he lacks the material. “Gachagua has all your secrets,” she writes, directing her words at the former DP. “Some bad, others very very bad you would never want public. He has kept them as a gentleman because unlike you he is mature.”
But the most striking allegation she makes concerns what she says happened during the impeachment period.
Miano claims Gachagua hatched a plan to have Ngotho killed. She says this plot was devised at Gachagua’s private office, which she refers to as “mlima,” and that a down payment of five million shillings was handed over.
She further claims one of the hired hitmen got cold feet and alerted Ngotho, saving his life. “Was Ngotho not saved by one of the hitmen?” she asks in her post.
Kenya Insights cannot independently verify this specific allegation. However, the broad context of threats and plots during that period is not entirely without precedent.
Gachagua himself, in a letter to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja dated April 15, 2025, alleged that a plot to assassinate him had been authorized at the highest levels of government, claiming that 101 masked officers had been deployed to Gatanga to eliminate him and that operatives trained in biological weapons were planning to poison him through inhaled chemicals. Kanja responded by urging Gachagua to notify police in advance of his movements if he required additional security.
The Brother’s Wife and the 150 Million Question
Miano’s post does not stop at murder allegations. She accuses Gachagua of impregnating the wife of his late brother. His late brother, Nderitu Gachagua, held the Mathira parliamentary seat before Rigathi inherited the constituency in the 2017 election.
She also claims Gachagua acquired the Olivia Gardens property using a deposit of Sh150 million that she says she has documentary evidence for, and that he deliberately undervalued the property to defraud his late brother’s children of their inheritance. “Na nitaleta evidence kwa kalatas,” she writes, promising to bring paper evidence. “You thief.”
These are allegations that, if proven, would constitute criminal conduct well beyond political rivalry. Kenya Insights has not been able to independently verify the property acquisition figures Miano cites, nor the details of the alleged fraud against the late Nderitu’s estate. What is on the public record is that Rigathi Gachagua won the Mathira seat after his brother’s tenure and that the Gachagua name has carried political weight in Nyeri County for decades.
A Fight That Was Always Coming
Those who know both Miano and Gachagua say the confrontation that has now exploded publicly was always a matter of when rather than whether.
Miano has never been a shrinking figure.
Even after her firing, she found a way to remain politically visible, securing first an appointment to the Board of the Micro and Small Enterprise Authority in January 2025, then a position on the Kenya Pipeline Company Limited board in March 2025 after her MSEA posting was revoked. She clearly maintains the trust of the Ruto administration, which adds a layer of political complexity to her public assault on Gachagua.
Gachagua, meanwhile, has spent the period since his October 2024 impeachment rebranding himself as a persecuted champion of Mount Kenya, launching the Democracy for the Citizens Party and positioning himself as the primary opposition alternative to President Ruto ahead of 2027.
His announcement in September 2025 that he intends to challenge Ruto for the presidency has been accompanied by escalating confrontations with security forces at his public events and a steady stream of dramatic allegations against the current government.
Into this combustible environment, Martha Miano has tossed something considerably more dangerous than political commentary. She has posted, on a public platform, under her own name, specific allegations linking a man who wants to be Kenya’s next president to two deaths, a foiled murder plot and a family fraud.
Gachagua’s critics will say they are not surprised. His defenders will say this is a coordinated attack from those aligned with State House, designed to neutralize him before 2027. What neither side can do is make the questions disappear.
Who was the powerful and influential man Regina Wairimu wrote about in her notebook? What happened to the DNA evidence from the crime scene? Why has no one been charged two years after a young engineering student and her eight-and-a-half-month-old unborn son were buried in a single casket in a village in Nyeri? And what does Francis Ngotho Maina know?
Kenya Insights will continue to follow all lines of this investigation.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The allegations attributed to Martha Miano in this report are drawn from her public Facebook post. Kenya Insights has not been able to independently verify all specific claims contained therein. The allegations regarding Regina Wairimu’s death are drawn from a Daily Nation investigative report published February 23, 2023, and from a prior Citizen Weekly report on the case.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has waded into the growing political tension within the Jubilee Party, warning leaders against attacking Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Speaking during a Jubilee grassroots meeting in Murang’a, Uhuru condemned the abusive political tone taken by some of his allies, accusing them of promoting division instead of unity.
His remarks come at a time when tribal loyalties are hardening across Mt. Kenya, with 2027 shaping into a fierce contest for the region’s political soul.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s fiery defence of Rigathi Gachagua marks a decisive turn in Mt. Kenya politics, signaling his determination to reclaim influence and shape the region’s 2027 power game. [PHOTO/Courtesy]
Uhuru’s Tough Warning and the Battle for Respect in Mt. Kenya Politics
Uhuru Kenyatta, visibly agitated, accused certain Jubilee officials of engaging in online insults and factional battles instead of strengthening the party. “I’m saddened to see people on social media who pretend to defend the party by insulting Rigathi Gachagua and others,” he said. “I don’t want that nonsense in my party. People should do their politics respectfully.”
He added that he would not hesitate to expel any member who continued to insult Gachagua or other leaders. “Before I hand over this party, if they continue doing so, I will call them out and send them packing,” he said.
The former president directed his warning particularly at Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, who has been one of Gachagua’s most vocal critics. Uhuru urged Kioni and other party officials to focus on rebuilding the party’s grassroots base rather than attacking individuals. “Instead of wasting time insulting leaders on social media, go out and sell our agenda,” he said.
Uhuru’s move is widely seen as an attempt to consolidate his Mt. Kenya support base ahead of 2027, when he is expected to back a presidential candidate capable of challenging President William Ruto’s dominance in the region.
Mt. Kenya Politics Enter a New Phase of Realignment
The former president’s remarks have reignited debate about Mt. Kenya’s political direction. With the 2027 elections fast approaching, local leaders are scrambling to position themselves around key power brokers. Uhuru’s public defence of Gachagua—once his fierce rival—signals a shift in alliances and a calculated attempt to rally the Kikuyu community behind a unified agenda.
Analysts believe Uhuru is seeking to neutralize internal divisions that could weaken his influence in Mt. Kenya politics. By extending an olive branch to Gachagua, Uhuru aims to rebrand Jubilee as a mature political force capable of negotiating for power on its own terms. His comments also reflect his desire to distance himself from the perception that Jubilee is fractured and leaderless.
The tension between Gachagua and some Jubilee officials stems from competing ambitions for control of the Mt. Kenya bloc. While Gachagua has been working to cement his grip on the region under the UDA banner, Uhuru’s allies have sought to counter that influence through opposition politics. Uhuru’s latest intervention, therefore, could be a strategic move to avoid a full-scale split that would benefit Ruto’s camp.
Uhuru Backs Matiang’i and Hints at Broader Opposition Unity
By aligning himself with Gachagua, Uhuru is attempting to reclaim lost ground among Kikuyu voters who shifted to Ruto in 2022. His remarks were not just about party discipline; they were about sending a clear message that the Mt. Kenya vote must be consolidated and respected. [PHOTO/Courtesy]During the meeting, Uhuru also endorsed former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i for the presidency. He described him as a hardworking leader whose record speaks for itself. “I have worked with Matiang’i, and I know his potential. His achievements during our administration are visible,” Uhuru said.
He dismissed claims that his support for Matiang’i is based on personal loyalty, insisting it stems from competence and experience. Political observers interpret this endorsement as part of Uhuru’s broader strategy to build a formidable opposition alliance anchored on experience and national appeal.
His remarks appear designed to send a message that his camp is organizing for 2027, with a possible Uhuru-Matiang’i axis taking shape. However, this positioning will require careful balancing to maintain unity within Mt. Kenya while also appealing to other regions skeptical of Kikuyu dominance.
Tribal Politics Take Center Stage in Mt. Kenya Ahead of 2027
Uhuru’s warning to Jubilee leaders also underscores the resurgence of tribal politics in Mt. Kenya. Despite public calls for issue-based politics, ethnic loyalty remains a decisive factor in regional elections. Uhuru’s defence of Gachagua—whom many in the region still view as a “son of the soil”—plays into this dynamic.
By aligning himself with Gachagua, Uhuru is attempting to reclaim lost ground among Kikuyu voters who shifted to Ruto in 2022. His remarks were not just about party discipline; they were about sending a clear message that the Mt. Kenya vote must be consolidated and respected.
Political insiders say Uhuru’s latest move could reshape alliances across central Kenya. If he manages to rally the region around a single political agenda, it could complicate President Ruto’s re-election path and re-energize the opposition’s push for unity.
For now, Jubilee’s internal discipline remains a test of Uhuru’s authority. But one thing is clear: Mt. Kenya politics are once again at the heart of Kenya’s next great political battle—and Uhuru Kenyatta is not leaving the stage quietly.
Governor’s callous remarks expose the ugly face of tribal politics as nation mourns fallen statesman
The nation is still reeling from the devastating loss of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has chosen this moment of collective grief to dance on the grave of one of Kenya’s most revered leaders.
In what can only be described as a grotesque display of political insensitivity, Kahiga stood before mourners at a burial ceremony in Nyeri on Tuesday and declared that God had “come through” for the Mt Kenya region by taking Raila Odinga’s life.
The governor, speaking in Kikuyu with barely concealed glee, suggested that divine intervention had conveniently eliminated a political obstacle that had been directing national resources away from his backyard.
“You guys can see what had been planned, but God brought something up. Now it’s total confusion. We did not harbour hate for anyone, but God came through for us,” Kahiga told the crowd, his words dripping with the kind of tribal triumphalism that has poisoned Kenyan politics for generations.
But the governor was not done.
In a rambling, tasteless monologue that has since gone viral and drawn condemnation from every corner of the republic, Kahiga went on to claim that all government goodies had been flowing to Nyanza because of Raila’s relationship with President William Ruto.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga
He painted a picture of Mt Kenya as a region abandoned and betrayed, only to be rescued by the Almighty who apparently saw fit to end a man’s life to balance some cosmic political ledger.
“For you who do not travel, because I was in that region, all goodies were being directed there because of tomorrow’s plans, because it seemed like they did away with us, but God came and brought this thing,” he said, as if discussing a football match rather than the death of a human being who dedicated his entire life to the struggle for democracy in this country.
Then came the punchline that has left Kenyans speechless with disgust. Kahiga, warming to his theme, suggested that God had called Raila to heaven because there was too much disagreement among the angels. “He saw up there that people in heaven are disagreeing a lot and came for Baba so that he can go and smooth things up there,” the governor quipped, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was mocking a man whose body has not yet been laid to rest.
The backlash has been swift and merciless, and rightly so. From Mombasa to Turkana, from Kisumu to Garissa, leaders across the political spectrum have united in condemning Kahiga’s reprehensible remarks. Former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya called the comments “deeply unfortunate and unbecoming.” Public Service Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi branded them “reprehensible, insensitive, and totally uncalled for.” Former Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu did not mince words, describing Kahiga’s statement as “grossly despicable” and demanding an unreserved apology.
Even Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, not known for holding back, delivered a stinging rebuke that cut to the bone. “My brother Governor Kahiga, I know you are a beneficiary of death because when Governor Wahome Gakuru died, you became governor. That’s why you are celebrating the death of Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga,” Cherargei said, reminding Kenyans of the tragic circumstances that brought Kahiga to power in the first place.
But behind this scandal lies a more disturbing reality. Kahiga’s outburst cannot be separated from his well-documented political marriage to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. The Nyeri governor has been one of Gachagua’s most loyal foot soldiers, standing by him during his impeachment drama and consistently parroting his divisive rhetoric about Mt Kenya’s supposed marginalization.
Gachagua’s conspicuous absence from Raila’s funeral and his deafening silence on Kahiga’s remarks speak volumes. While other leaders have rushed to pay their respects and condemn the governor’s insensitivity, Gachagua has maintained a calculated distance, allowing his proxy to do the dirty work of stoking regional resentment while keeping his own hands clean.
This is the same playbook that has defined Gachagua’s political career: the constant invocation of tribal victimhood, the portrayal of every political development as a zero-sum game between regions, the shameless exploitation of ethnic anxieties for political gain. Kahiga’s remarks are not an aberration but a logical extension of the poison that Gachagua has been injecting into Mt Kenya politics.
The timing of this controversy, coming as it does with the 2027 elections on the horizon, suggests that Kahiga’s outburst may have been more calculated than it appears. By framing Raila’s death as divine intervention that has leveled the political playing field, Kahiga is attempting to reactivate the old tribal coalitions and present himself and his political godfather as the true defenders of Mt Kenya interests.
This is not the first time Kahiga has courted controversy with reckless statements. He has previously been forced to apologize for offensive remarks about the Maasai community and has clashed with national officials over various policies. But this latest episode represents a new low, even by his standards.
What makes Kahiga’s comments particularly galling is the context in which they were made. Raila Odinga was not just another politician. He was a liberation hero who was detained without trial, who was tear-gassed and brutalized for demanding democracy, who brought this country back from the brink of civil war in 2008, who graciously accepted defeat multiple times in the interest of national stability. He was a pan-Africanist who transcended tribal boundaries and inspired millions across the continent.
To reduce such a towering figure to a mere inconvenience whose removal should be celebrated is not just politically tone-deaf but morally bankrupt. It reveals the rot at the heart of a brand of politics that sees fellow Kenyans not as compatriots but as competitors in a vicious contest for state resources.
The ruling United Democratic Alliance has issued a tepid statement expressing disappointment, but words are cheap. If President Ruto is serious about his much-touted commitment to national unity, he must take concrete action against Kahiga. The governor’s remarks are not just offensive but dangerous, threatening to inflame ethnic tensions at a delicate moment in our national life.
Governors James Orengo, Anne Waiguru, and others have rightly distanced themselves from Kahiga’s comments, with Orengo calling them shameful and Waiguru labeling them an insult to a national hero. The Council of Governors must go further and formally censure Kahiga, sending a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated from those holding public office.
Kenyans on social media have not held back, with hashtags demanding Kahiga’s arrest and even his impeachment trending across platforms. The anger is palpable and justified. In a country that has seen ethnic violence tear communities apart, where political rhetoric has real consequences, leaders like Kahiga are playing with fire.
What is particularly disturbing about the video of Kahiga’s speech is the reaction of sections of the crowd. The cheers and ululations that greeted his tasteless jokes reveal how deeply entrenched tribal thinking remains in some quarters. It shows how easily unscrupulous politicians can manipulate ethnic identities to serve their narrow ambitions.
Raila Odinga’s death should have been a moment for Kenya to come together, to reflect on our shared journey as a nation, to honor a man who gave everything for the democratic freedoms we now enjoy. Instead, Kahiga has turned it into yet another opportunity for tribal point-scoring, another chapter in the endless cycle of ethnic grievance and resentment that has held this country back for too long.
The ghost of Rigathi Gachagua looms large over this entire sordid affair. His political philosophy, if it can be dignified with such a term, has always been about dividing Kenyans along ethnic lines, about presenting governance as a tribal lottery rather than a national project. Kahiga is simply the latest disciple of this creed, willing to say out loud what others might only whisper in private.
As Kenya prepares to bid farewell to Raila Odinga, Kahiga’s remarks serve as a stark reminder of the work that still needs to be done to build a truly united nation. They expose the fragility of our national cohesion and the ease with which it can be shattered by ambitious politicians who see votes in division rather than unity.
Governor Kahiga must apologize, not with the half-hearted, qualified apologies that have become standard in Kenyan politics, but with genuine contrition. He must acknowledge the pain his words have caused to the Odinga family, to the people of Nyanza, and to all Kenyans who believe in basic human decency.
But an apology alone will not suffice. There must be consequences. The institutions of accountability in this country must show that there is a price to be paid for such reckless, divisive rhetoric. Otherwise, we are sending a message that anything goes, that our leaders can say whatever they want without fear of sanction.
As we mourn Raila Odinga, we are reminded of the values he stood for: inclusivity, justice, democracy, and national unity. Kahiga’s celebration of his death represents everything Raila fought against. It is an insult not just to one man’s memory but to the very idea of Kenya as a nation that belongs to all its people equally.
The question now is whether we will allow politicians like Kahiga and Gachagua to drag us back into the tribal politics of the past, or whether we will honor Raila’s legacy by building the united, prosperous Kenya he spent his life fighting for. The choice is ours to make.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addresses wananchi in Nyeri town on June 15, 2024.
Former Interior CS finds himself increasingly sidelined as Gachagua’s aggressive tactics threaten to splinter opposition unity ahead of 2027 polls
The veneer of unity within Kenya’s opposition has spectacularly crumbled, exposing a toxic cocktail of ego, ethnicity and naked ambition that threatens to hand President William Ruto an easy path to re-election in 2027.
At the centre of this implosion is former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who finds himself fighting a lonely battle against former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s increasingly aggressive attempts to dominate the opposition space .
What was supposed to be a formidable coalition to unseat Ruto has instead become a stage for petty squabbles, with Gachagua positioning himself as the undisputed kingmaker while systematically isolating anyone who dares challenge his supremacy.
The public spat between the two men on Friday laid bare the deep fissures running through the United Opposition.
While his colleagues were courting voters in Kajiado, Matiang’i was conspicuously absent, holding his own rally in Nakuru in what insiders say was a deliberate snub to Gachagua’s increasingly dictatorial style.
The message was clear: Matiang’i will not be bullied into abandoning his Jubilee Party base to genuflect before Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party.
Gachagua’s remarks at the DCP headquarters dripped with contempt for his ostensible ally.
His dismissive reference to “boardroom negotiations” and social media posturing was a thinly-veiled attack on Matiang’i’s approach to politics. But it was his ethnic dog whistle telling Matiang’i to “go get a party solidifying his base in Kisii region” that revealed the true nature of his game.
Gachagua is not interested in building a national coalition. He wants to carve up Kenya into ethnic fiefdoms, with himself controlling the lucrative Mount Kenya vote bank.
This Balkanisation strategy is precisely what has kept Kenya’s opposition perpetually weak. Instead of building a movement based on ideology and national interest, Gachagua is resurrecting the tired ethnic arithmetic that has failed Kenya for decades.
His boast, as revealed by Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni, of controlling “seven million votes from the mountain, one million from Kalonzo, and 800,000 from Matiang’i”exposes a man who sees his allies not as partners but as vote contractors subservient to his grand design.
Matiang’i’s defiance in Nakuru was therefore not just about defending his choice to remain in Jubilee. It was a principled stand against the ethnic balkanisation of Kenyan politics.
His insistence that “you cannot choose a party for someone” and his call for democracy within the opposition alliance represents a fundamentally different vision from Gachagua’s strongman approach.
But principle alone does not win elections in Kenya, and Matiang’i’s isolation within the coalition suggests he is losing this battle.
The former Interior CS finds himself in an impossible position. His association with former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party is both his strength and his Achilles heel.
While it gives him institutional support and a ready-made party structure, it also makes him vulnerable to accusations of being Uhuru’s “lapdog” and a Trojan horse for the old establishment.
Critics like lawyer Ndegwa Njiru have openly dismissed him as “a political novice” who could be used to split opposition votes , further undermining his credibility within the coalition.
Gachagua, by contrast, has successfully positioned himself as the anti-establishment rebel, the victim of state persecution who was impeached for standing with the common man.
Never mind that his own record as Deputy President was marked by the same ethnic mobilisation and political opportunism he now deploys against Ruto.
His persecution narrative has given him a legitimacy that Matiang’i, who served in both Uhuru’s and briefly in Ruto’s government, struggles to match.
The accusation by Kioni that Gachagua has been cutting deals with Ruto in Narokadds another layer of intrigue to this mess.
While Gachagua has vehemently denied any betrayal, the allegation speaks to a deeper suspicion within the opposition: that he is more interested in using the coalition as leverage to negotiate his way back to relevance rather than genuinely committing to regime change.
His aggressive domination of the opposition space, his insistence that DCP be the sole vehicle for Mount Kenya, and his systematic sidelining of rivals like Matiang’i all point to a man playing a longer, more cynical game.
For Matiang’i, the options are increasingly bleak. He can continue to fight from within, defending his Jubilee base while hoping that his patience and principle will eventually be rewarded.
But this strategy requires that the opposition actually wins in 2027, a prospect that looks increasingly remote given the current dysfunction.
Alternatively, he could break away entirely, but that would simply accelerate the fragmentation of the opposition and guarantee Ruto’s re-election.
The real winners in this spectacle are President Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza coalition.
Every public spat between opposition leaders reinforces Ruto’s image as the only politician with organisational discipline. Every accusation and counter-accusation proves that the opposition is not ready to govern.
The chaos within the United Opposition is a gift that keeps on giving to a President who faces serious challenges on multiple fronts but can at least count on his enemies to destroy themselves.
Political analysts have warned that this disarray is precisely what Ruto needs to cement his political base.
While the opposition burns through its political capital in internal wars, Ruto’s team is busy consolidating support, deploying technocrats to counter Gachagua’s influence, and building a national machinery that will be nearly impossible to defeat if the opposition cannot get its act together.
The tragedy is that Kenya desperately needs a viable opposition. Ruto’s government has presided over economic hardship, allegations of extrajudicial killings, and massive corruption.
There is genuine public appetite for change.
But that change requires a united front, a coherent alternative vision, and leaders willing to subordinate their egos to a larger cause. None of these elements are currently visible in the opposition.
Gachagua’s bulldozing tactics, his ethnic mobilisation strategy, and his apparent inability to work with anyone who does not submit to his authority are not signs of strong leadership.
They are the marks of a politician who learned nothing from his own impeachment, who believes that might makes right, and who is willing to sacrifice the opposition’s chances of victory on the altar of his own ambition.
Matiang’i’s isolation is therefore not just about one man’s struggle for relevance. It is a symptom of a broader disease afflicting Kenya’s opposition: the inability to build coalitions based on shared purpose rather than ethnic arithmetic, the preference for strongman politics over democratic deliberation, and the triumph of personal ambition over national interest.
Unless something changes dramatically, the 2027 election is already decided.
Not because Ruto is unbeatable, but because the opposition has beaten itself. And Kenyans, who deserve better than this circus, will once again be asked to choose between an unpopular incumbent and a dysfunctional alternative that cannot even agree on who should carry their flag, let alone what they stand for.
The next two years will determine whether the opposition can salvage something from this wreckage. But based on current evidence, Gachagua’s aggressive dominance and Matiang’i’s isolation suggest that the United Opposition is neither united nor much of an opposition.
It is simply a collection of wounded egos, ethnic entrepreneurs, and political opportunists playing out their personal dramas on the national stage while Ruto watches and smiles.
Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni has sensationally claimed that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is quietly working hand-in-hand with President William Ruto despite projecting himself as an outsider in government.
Speaking on Hot 96 on Sunday evening, Kioni alleged that Gachagua recently convened a closed-door meeting in Narok County with about 15 local leaders, including members of the clergy, where he defended the controversial move by the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) to deny Joshua Ole Kaputa a ticket for the upcoming Narok Town Ward by-election.
According to Kioni, Gachagua assured the gathering that Kaputa would be accommodated in future nominations as part of a wider deal he is striking with Ruto.
“Gachagua told them William Ruto has already sent emissaries and they had agreed to first put their houses in order before sitting down formally. He said by then he would have seven million votes from the mountain, one million from Kalonzo and 800,000 from Matiang’i. He boasted he would control more than half the cake and share some with the Maasai community,” Kioni alleged.
Kioni declined to provide further evidence of the secret pact but insisted, “He said it himself. I will give you the date and hour the minute I leave this studio.”
The Jubilee boss dismissed any possibility of his party collaborating with Gachagua, accusing him of cutting sinister backroom deals while pretending to be politically estranged.
“We would like to work with like-minded parties that actually believe in sending William Ruto home, not those advancing selfish ‘get your people and I get mine’ arrangements,” he charged.
Kioni used the platform to rally young Kenyans to register as voters as the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) begins a fresh continuous registration exercise targeting 6.3 million new voters.
“You must register in numbers. It makes no sense to be an active critic of the government and fail to vote them out. Failing to register amounts to voting them back in,” he said.
The IEBC hopes to raise the number of registered voters from 22.1 million to 28 million ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has praised the election victory of Malawi’s President-elect Prof. Peter Mutharika, declaring it a wake-up call for corrupt and authoritarian leaders across Africa — including Kenya’s President William Ruto.
In a statement released on Thursday, Gachagua described Mutharika’s win in the September 16 election as a “continental statement” affirming the supremacy of the people’s will through the ballot.
“It is a declaration that Africa, the rising continent and home to 1.5 billion people, is no longer a playground for religious hypocrisy, conmanship, corruption, pathological lies, dictatorship, and self-serving regimes,” Gachagua said.
He argued that Malawi’s poll proved the resilience of democracy, warning leaders who cling to power that “their days are numbered.”
Citing the downfall of historical African strongmen, Gachagua stressed that the era of unchecked oligarchy had collapsed under “the weight of people’s power.”
Turning his focus to Kenya, the former DP urged citizens to take inspiration from Malawians ahead of the 2027 General Election.
“Malawi has reminded us that African citizens are awake. They see. They feel. They think. They act. The will of the people is supreme,” he said.
“I call on the people of the republic of Kenya to draw strength from Malawi’s courage and reclaim our future through democratic means. The will of the people is supreme. WANTAM IS A REALITY!”
Gachagua also commended outgoing Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera for conceding defeat and congratulating Mutharika, describing the gesture as a mark of political maturity.
Mutharika, 85, secured victory after defeating Chakwera, who conceded on September 24 just hours before Malawi’s electoral commission declared the official results.
His comeback campaign leaned on his past record of infrastructure expansion and economic stabilisation, though critics recalled his previous tenure was marred by allegations of cronyism.
Chakwera’s loss came amid widespread public frustration over Malawi’s battered economy, with inflation peaking at 33 percent and food prices soaring in the agriculture-dependent nation.
Gachagua’s remarks, while framed as a congratulatory message, carried a pointed warning for President Ruto’s administration, underscoring his sharpening attacks as the country edges closer to the 2027 political contest.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) has suffered a significant political setback after its candidate for the Banisa constituency by-election withdrew from the race following a State House meeting.
Adan Mohamed Kiongozi, who had been unveiled by Gachagua as the DCP standard-bearer for the November 27 polls, announced his withdrawal after what he described as pressure from community elders and a meeting with President William Ruto at State House.
The withdrawal comes as a major blow to Gachagua’s nascent political party, which is gearing up for its first electoral test since its formation in May 2025.
The Banisa seat fell vacant following the death of MP Kullow Maalim Hassan in a road accident on March 28, 2023.
Speaking exclusively to this writer, Mohamed said his decision was influenced by the Mandera Council of Elders, Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif, and ultimately President Ruto, who all prevailed upon him to step aside in favour of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate.
“I have listened to my community, which has asked me to shelve my ambition and wait for 2027. The council of elders, Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif and President William Ruto have all asked me to step down in favour of the UDA candidate,” Mohamed explained.
The former ODM politician, who garnered 7,775 votes in the 2022 elections while the late Kullow emerged victorious with 13,656 votes, maintained that his decision was based on community interests rather than financial inducements.
“I have heard reports that I was bribed Sh100 million. I am asking anyone who can get to President William Ruto to ask the same for me because I need it. I was given nothing and my decision is basically over community interest,” he stated categorically.
UDA’s candidate for the by-election is Ahmed Maalim Hassan, alias Barre, who is the brother of the late MP.
Hassan was initially the United Democratic Movement (UDM) candidate before being acquired by UDA, led by Senator Ali Roba.
Mohamed revealed that he was taken to State House last week by Governor Khalif, where they met President Ruto.
“The President only asked me to step down and promised to support me in the 2027 plan. He promised to ensure my political future remains bright,” he disclosed.
The withdrawal has prompted accusations from DCP leadership that the State House is engaging in underhand tactics to pressure their candidates across various constituencies.
Secretary-General Hezron Obaga claimed that candidates withdrawing from upcoming by-elections are allegedly receiving between Sh10-15 million from “the house on the hill.”
“Our candidates everywhere are under immense pressure to withdraw from upcoming by-elections and if our Banisa candidate has dropped, that confirms the situation,” Obaga said.
“What is happening at the State House confirms that the DCP is a strong party.”
However, Mohamed denied receiving any money, stating that his decision was purely based on respect for community wishes and showing sympathy to the family of the late MP.
The former DCP candidate also revealed insights about the political dynamics in the North Eastern region, claiming that the opposition’s “Wantam” gospel is not resonating with voters in Mandera and the broader region.
“I have realised that what the opposition is pushing in the name of Wantam is not selling in Mandera. Everyone is supporting the President and the Mandera governor for a second term,” he observed.
Mohamed had initially chosen DCP after his former party ODM entered into an agreement with UDA to support each other in their respective strongholds ahead of the by-elections.
With Mohamed’s exit, the Banisa race now features UDA’s Ahmed Maalim Hassan Barre, Nurdin Adan Enow (alias Dalato) who recently moved from Jubilee to United Progressive Party, and Issack Malele of the People Progressive Party.
Both Malele and Dalato have confirmed they will remain in the race until the end.
The development represents a significant test for Gachagua’s political influence and the viability of DCP as it prepares for what many see as a dry run for the 2027 general elections.
The party had positioned the Banisa by-election as one of its key battlegrounds alongside contests in Magarini, Malava, and Kasipul constituencies.
Governor Khalif, who played a key role in Mohamed’s withdrawal, confirmed that the community had overwhelmingly expressed support for the UDA aspirant during extensive campaigns across all villages in the constituency.
The Banisa constituency, with its complex clan dynamics and community leadership structures, appears to have prioritized unity and continuity by supporting the late MP’s brother, effectively sidelining external political party interests.
For Gachagua, who was impeached as Deputy President and has since formed DCP to challenge President Ruto’s administration, the Banisa withdrawal signals early challenges in his quest to build a formidable opposition movement ahead of 2027.
The IEBC has set October 2, 2025, as the deadline for political parties to submit their final lists of candidates for the November 27 by-elections across 22 positions countrywide.
Nyeri, Kenya, Sept 14 – Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2027, insisting he is the only opposition candidate with the ability to unseat President William Ruto.
Speaking during a tour of Mt Kenya on Saturday, Gachagua said he had heeded calls from Kenyans to step forward and offer himself for the top seat. The former DP told residents that he had returned to his political backyard to seek their blessings before embarking on the campaign trail.
“I have come home to say that I have accepted to vie for the presidency of the Republic of Kenya. Kenyans have looked and said the only leader who has the ability to remove Ruto from office is Riggy G,” Gachagua said.
Gachagua, who was accompanied by a section of leaders allied to his Democratic Change Party (DCP), outlined a raft of priorities that he said would define his administration if elected. Among them is the revival of free education, a policy he credited to the late President Mwai Kibaki, which he argued has suffered setbacks under subsequent administrations.
“The first thing I will do if elected president is to ensure that our children truly access free education, as was introduced by the late Mwai Kibaki,” Gachagua noted, adding that many families are still struggling to meet school-related costs despite the government’s pledge of free basic education.
He further promised sweeping reforms in the health sector, including restoring free maternity services, which he said would ease financial pressures on families and improve maternal and child health outcomes.
The former DP also pledged to abolish the controversial housing levy introduced under the Ruto administration, saying it had become an unfair burden on Kenyans already grappling with tough economic times.
“These are the burdens we must lift from Kenyans if we want a nation where citizens thrive,” he said during roadside rallies.
Gachagua’s announcement comes as opposition leaders continue behind-the-scenes talks to settle on a single candidate to challenge Ruto in 2027. His declaration is expected to shake up the political landscape, especially in the Mt Kenya region, which remains a critical voting bloc.
Government Cancels All Trading Licenses for Cup of Joe Ltd Amid $3.7 Billion Debsh Tea Corruption Scandal
The Kenyan government has moved decisively to cancel all tea trading licenses held by Cup of Joe Ltd, a Mombasa-based export company at the center of a sprawling corruption scandal that has jeopardized Kenya’s access to the lucrative Iranian tea market.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Kipronoh Ronoh issued the directive to the Tea Board of Kenya following revelations that the company, owned by businessman Joseph Njuguna Wainaina—a close ally of impeached former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua—facilitated fraudulent dealings that enabled Iranian company Debsh Tea Co to embezzle $3.7 billion.
The Iran connection unravels
The scandal, dubbed the “Debsh Tea Scandal,” has rocked both countries’ tea industries and threatens to sever trade ties worth billions of shillings annually.
Iran, which imported Kenyan tea valued at Sh5.98 billion in 2023, has effectively suspended imports following the exposure of massive fraud orchestrated by Debsh Tea Co.
At the heart of the scheme was a audacious pricing manipulation: Debsh Tea imported Kenyan tea through Cup of Joe at $2 per kilogram, then fraudulently relabeled and sold it as premium Indian Darjeeling tea for up to $14 per kilogram—a staggering $12 markup that enriched corrupt officials while undermining Kenya’s tea reputation.
“We have taken this serious direction to bring order to the tea sector. This is among the many reforms we are undertaking in the tea sector,” Ronoh stated, emphasizing that the action forms part of broader industry reforms aimed at ensuring accountability and stability.
Gachagua’s business network exposed
Cup of Joe’s central role in the scandal has thrust Wainaina’s extensive business connections under scrutiny.
Beyond tea exports, Wainaina operates in multiple sectors, including supplying bitumen from Iran to the South African market—dealings that established his Iranian connections years before the tea fraud emerged.
Ex DP Rigathi Gachagua during a recent interview in Boston
Sources familiar with the matter reveal that the relationship between the Kenyan government and Debsh Tea Co crystallized in late 2022 when the Kenya Kwanza administration took power, with Gachagua championing higher tea prices to expand his political base in tea-growing regions.
“The close relationship began when the new administration came into power,” an industry insider disclosed. “Gachagua had promised higher revenues for tea producers as part of his political strategy in the central Kenya region.”
The fraud mechanism
Iranian court documents reveal that between 2019 and 2022, Debsh Tea received $3.37 billion in subsidized foreign currency ostensibly to import tea and machinery.
However, the company diverted $1.4 billion to the free market for profit while engaging in elaborate fraud schemes.
Cup of Joe served as the crucial intermediary, sourcing tea through Dubai operations and facilitating payments not only in U.S. dollars but also in UAE dirhams—a move that surprised other exporters and should have raised red flags among regulators.
The company’s Dubai warehouses, operated through Chai Trading (a KTDA subsidiary), became storage points for tea stocks awaiting bulk sales to Debsh Tea, even as corruption allegations swirled around the Iranian company.
Iranian justice swift and severe
Iranian authorities have moved aggressively to prosecute those involved.
Debsh Tea CEO Akbar Rahimi-Darabad received a 66-year prison sentence (effectively 25 years under concurrent sentencing) for disrupting Iran’s economy, smuggling foreign currency, and bribery.
Two former Iranian ministers—Javad Sadatinejad and Reza Fatemi Amin—were sentenced to one and two years respectively for their roles in the scheme that unfolded under the late President Ebrahim Raisi.
Iranian officials have expressed frustration with Kenya’s slow response to demands for action against local intermediaries allegedly complicit in the fraud, raising concerns that Iran may permanently shift to alternative tea suppliers like India or Sri Lanka.
Market manipulation allegations
Industry participants have accused the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and government officials of colluding to manipulate the Mombasa tea auction by setting artificially high reserve prices.
Critics argue this eliminated competition and aligned with Gachagua’s political promises of higher revenues for tea farmers.
The manipulation allegedly benefited Cup of Joe, which operated independently of KTDA while maintaining exclusive arrangements with Iranian buyers.
The company’s ability to pay in multiple currencies and its Dubai warehousing operations gave it significant advantages over competitors.
Economic stakes and diplomatic fallout
The scandal threatens Kenya’s position as the world’s leading black tea exporter at a time when the industry faces multiple challenges. The loss of Sudan as a major buyer, combined with reduced imports from Egypt and Pakistan due to foreign currency shortages, has left Kenya’s tea sector vulnerable.
Kenya’s tea industry contributes nearly a quarter of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, making the Iranian market suspension particularly damaging. With Iranian authorities pressuring Kenyan counterparts for accountability, diplomatic tensions have escalated beyond commercial considerations.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has led recent efforts to restore the Iranian market, meeting with Iranian Ambassador Dr. Ali Gholampour to discuss trade expansion.
However, these initiatives remain overshadowed by demands for justice in the Debsh Tea scandal.
Cup of Joe’s rise and fall
Cup of Joe had positioned itself as a premium tea exporter, holding certifications including ISO 22000, HACCP, and GMP while marketing halal and organic certified products.
The company actively participated in international trade exhibitions and the Mombasa Tea Auction, dealing in grades such as BP1, PF1, Dust, and Orthodox OP1.
The company’s website continues to describe its “vision to bring the exceptional quality of Kenyan tea to the global stage” and its “relentless pursuit of excellence.”
However, regulatory action has effectively ended its operations pending investigation.
President William Ruto’s administration established a task force in late 2023 to address broader issues of unsold tea stocks, though no specific public statement initially addressed the Debsh Tea scandal directly.
The cancellation of Cup of Joe’s licenses represents the most decisive action taken by Kenyan authorities since the scandal emerged.
The directive, copied to Cabinet Secretary Kagwe and East African Tea Trade Association Managing Director George Omuga, signals coordinated government response.
“The firm’s dealings had disrupted Kenya’s tea flow to Iran, which is among the country’s key export destinations alongside Oman,” Ronoh noted, highlighting the broader impact on Kenya’s export strategy.
As Kenya seeks to rebuild trust with Iranian buyers and restore market access, the Cup of Joe scandal serves as a stark reminder of the risks posed by inadequate oversight of export intermediaries.
The government’s decisive action against the company, while potentially too late to prevent immediate market loss, may help demonstrate Kenya’s commitment to trade integrity.
The scandal’s resolution will likely influence Kenya’s broader tea export strategy, potentially leading to enhanced monitoring of export intermediaries and stricter compliance requirements for companies dealing with high-value international markets.
For tea farmers and the broader industry, the Cup of Joe case underscores the vulnerability of Kenya’s export-dependent agricultural sector to corporate malfeasance and political connections that prioritize personal gain over national economic interests.
This investigation is based on government directives, court documents, and industry sources. Cup of Joe Ltd and its representatives were not available for comment at the time of publication.
National commission acts decisively against political involvement by senior official
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission has dismissed Vice Chairperson Wambui Nyutu with immediate effect, citing her persistent involvement in partisan political activities that violated her oath of office and statutory obligations.
The dramatic firing of Nyutu, a prominent ally of Democracy for the Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua, came after a Special Commission Meeting on Tuesday where commissioners unanimously voted to remove her from the position.
Nyiri and Gachagua in a past interaction.
NCIC Chairperson Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia announced that the commission could no longer tolerate Nyutu’s conduct, which had become “untenable” and incompatible with the impartiality required of commissioners.
“The Commission unanimously resolved to relieve Ms. Nyutu of her role as Vice Chairperson of the Commission with immediate effect,” Kobia stated in an official release.
The dismissal follows months of mounting concern over Nyutu’s political activities, with the commission having previously convened three special meetings on January 3, January 23, and February 6 specifically to address her conduct following public remarks and appearances deemed politically partisan.
Initially, Nyutu denied the allegations but later issued an apology and formally promised to avoid political activities.
However, the commission determined this commitment was short-lived.
“At its meeting on July 22, 2025, the Commission noted with deep concern that Ms. Wambui Nyutu has since been involved in partisan political activities, including participation in meetings affiliated with a particular political party,” Rev. Kobia explained.
The chairperson emphasized that such actions constituted “continued engagement in partisan politics, in contravention of her commitment to the Commission and in breach of the expectations of impartiality required of all Commissioners.”
In a seamless transition, the commission immediately elected Dr. Dorcas Kedogo as the new Vice Chairperson, ensuring continuity in leadership structure.
The NCIC has also initiated formal processes to remove Nyutu entirely from her role as Commissioner, invoking Section 23 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act and other constitutional mechanisms. The relevant appointing authority will be formally notified of these proceedings.
Nyutu’s close association with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua had drawn significant attention.
She has been frequently spotted at rallies and events organized by Gachagua and is considered a vocal critic of President William Ruto’s administration.
The timing of her dismissal is particularly significant as political tensions continue to simmer between different factions within Kenya’s political landscape.
Despite her political controversies, Nyutu brings substantial professional credentials to her roles.
She holds a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi, a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the same institution.
Her qualifications extend to specialized dispute resolution, with certifications as a Professional Mediator from the Mediation Training Institute East Africa and in Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Prior to her NCIC appointment in 2019, Nyutu served as a Director at the National Irrigation Board of Kenya and held various legal positions. In 2018, she received the Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) from then-President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The NCIC has moved quickly to distance itself from Nyutu’s political statements, clarifying that any such pronouncements were made in her personal capacity and do not reflect the commission’s official position.
Rev. Kobia reinforced the institution’s commitment to neutrality, stating that “The NCIC reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the principles of impartiality, integrity, and professionalism in the execution of its mandate. Commissioners are bound by the oath of office to remain independent and non-partisan.”
This dismissal sends a clear message about the boundaries of political engagement for public officials serving in constitutional commissions.
It underscores the delicate balance required between personal political views and official duties in Kenya’s democratic framework.
The move also highlights ongoing tensions within Kenya’s political establishment, particularly between supporters of President Ruto and allies of former Deputy President Gachagua.
As the NCIC moves forward under new leadership, the incident serves as a reminder of the critical importance of institutional independence in maintaining public trust and democratic governance.
The commission’s decisive action demonstrates its commitment to upholding the constitutional principles of neutrality and professionalism that are fundamental to its mandate of promoting national cohesion and integration.
Political activist Morara Kebaso has issued a scathing critique of Kenya’s opposition politics, warning that the country’s entrenched tribal coalitions will produce a 2027 presidential candidate who could prove even more detrimental than the current administration.
Writing on his social media platforms, Morara expressed vindication over his earlier predictions about the opposition’s candidate selection process, particularly in light of recent declarations by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua positioning himself as the frontrunner for the opposition ticket.
“I told you that the choice of the opposition flag bearer will be based on tribal numbers and money. The end result will be a presidential candidate who is worse than Ruto,” Morara stated, referencing criticism he had previously faced for raising these concerns.
The activist’s comments come as opposition figures including Gachagua, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, NARC Kenya’s Martha Karua, and others jockey for position ahead of the 2027 polls. Gachagua recently declared himself the leading contender during a diaspora engagement in Boston, citing his influence in the Mt. Kenya region as a key asset.
Morara’s analysis centers on what he views as the fundamental flaw in Kenya’s political landscape: the persistence of ethnic-based voting patterns that he argues will hand President William Ruto an easy victory in 2027.
“As long as the 2027 presidential race is organized around tribal coalitions, William Ruto will win that election very fast,” he warned, suggesting that the opposition’s reliance on traditional ethnic arithmetic could prove counterproductive.
The activist painted a stark picture of Kenya’s political culture, challenging voters who support leaders based solely on shared ethnicity despite records of corruption or poor governance.
He specifically cited former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s controversial tenure, alleging massive financial impropriety while questioning why some Kenyans continue to celebrate him based on tribal affiliation.
Similarly, Morara criticized voters who support Ruto purely on ethnic grounds or due to influence from regional leaders like ANC’s Musalia Mudavadi, arguing that such loyalty transcends rational assessment of leadership performance.
“Change in Kenya will only happen the day we rise above our tribes,” Morara declared, positioning himself as an advocate for issue-based rather than identity-based politics.
The activist’s message reflects growing frustration among some Kenyans with what they perceive as the cyclical nature of the country’s politics, where the same patterns of ethnic mobilization repeat across election cycles regardless of candidates’ track records or policy platforms.
His warnings come at a critical juncture as opposition parties work toward forming coalitions for 2027, with discussions around the “Wantam” unity framework that Gachagua referenced during his U.S. tour.
However, Morara’s intervention suggests that even unified opposition efforts may be insufficient if they remain anchored in traditional tribal calculations.
The activist concluded with a pointed message to Kenyans struggling with unemployment and economic hardship, arguing that those who continue to vote along ethnic lines bear responsibility for their circumstances.
Whether Morara’s diagnosis resonates with voters ahead of 2027 remains to be seen, but his critique highlights the ongoing tension between calls for transformational politics and the enduring influence of ethnic considerations in Kenyan elections.
As the opposition shapes its strategy for challenging Ruto’s re-election bid, Morara’s warnings serve as a reminder of the broader structural challenges facing Kenya’s democratic evolution beyond mere changes in leadership.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has continued with efforts to expand the availability of his new party, Democracy for the Citizens (DCP), for Kenyans in the diaspora after he opened a second satellite office in Boston on Sunday.
He noted that the party was founded on the principles of listening to the people of Kenya and that resolve remains.
Gachagua said for many years, the pleas of Kenyans have gone unheard even as he promised to go over and above to listen to the people.
He insisted that no one will be left behind, should DCP win the leadership of the country in the 2027 general elections.
“The DCP Party, founded on the philosophy of listening to mwananchi, remains firm on this resolve. For far too long, Kenyans have been unheard, especially now; It is at its highest low. As a party, we shall move to every village and every part of the world where Kenyans are and listen to them.
“Today, in Boston, we opened our second satellite office in the USA to serve Kenyans in America. No Kenyan will be left behind in our leadership. Thank you, Boston,” Gachagua wrote on Facebook.
The launch of the Boston DCP office comes just a week after he launched another in Seattle, Washington.
“We are now expanding our presence with our very first satellite office in Seattle,” he said.
Gachagu described the new office as a key step in strengthening outreach and enhancing engagement with Kenyans living in the United States, particularly those in Seattle and surrounding areas.
“This new office will strengthen our efforts, foster greater engagement, and bring our initiatives closer to the people of Seattle and the surrounding areas,” he stated.
Gachagua left Kenya on July 9, 2025, night for a two-month tour across the United States; his first international trip since being removed from office in October 2024.
Former Deputy President dismisses ODM leader’s conclave proposal during diaspora meeting
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has launched a scathing attack on Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga, branding him “totally irrelevant” in Kenya’s political discourse and dismissing his recent calls for national dialogue as opportunistic maneuvering.
Speaking to Kenyans in Seattle, Washington State on July 11, Gachagua accused Odinga of being a political opportunist who seeks to insert himself into every administration through dialogue while avoiding accountability when things go wrong.
“Raila is totally irrelevant in the political discourse because every election cycle, he loses and finds his way into government,” Gachagua declared.
“He wants to be in government but doesn’t want responsibility. He is there, but somebody else takes the flak.”
The remarks come in response to Odinga’s proposal for a “national conclave” to address Kenya’s mounting challenges, including economic hardships and human rights violations.
The ODM leader had suggested establishing this forum to chart a new path for the country through collective civic engagement and reform.
However, Gachagua questioned Odinga’s motives, particularly given his current role in President William Ruto’s administration.
“Right now, he finds things are too hot for Ruto; he tries to distance himself, but if he were a patriotic Kenyan and he meant well for our country, he would disengage from Kasongo, but he’s talking when his mouth is full,” the former DP stated.
The criticism reflects deepening political fractures as Kenya grapples with rising public discontent over economic hardships and government crackdowns on critics and protesters.
The recent Saba Saba protests, marking the 35th anniversary of the historic demonstrations, saw renewed clashes between protesters and police, highlighting the growing tensions.
Gachagua, who was impeached as Deputy President, rejected dialogue as a solution, instead advocating for electoral change in 2027.
“The dialogue we need is in the ballot box in 2027. Raila has been in every dialogue, but the problems of Kenya don’t end. What we need is transformative leadership,” he argued.
The former DP’s comments underscore the complex political dynamics at play, with Odinga currently serving in Ruto’s government despite being a longtime opposition figure.
Gachagua’s criticism appears aimed at both leaders, suggesting that meaningful dialogue with the current administration would be futile.
“I don’t think the Kenyan problem is talking to William Ruto. Even what you will agree will be a lie, so there’s nothing we can discuss with him because it cannot work,” Gachagua concluded.
Popular Kikuyu musician makes bold declaration of loyalty to former Deputy President during diaspora event in the United States
In a moment that electrified the Kenyan diaspora community in Seattle, renowned Kikuyu musician Samuel Muchoki Ndirangu, popularly known as Samidoh, made a bold declaration of allegiance to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during a musical performance that has since sparked conversations across Kenya’s political landscape.
Speaking in his native Kikuyu dialect before launching into his performance, Samidoh addressed Gachagua directly, stating: “Your Excellency, we usually listen to what you say and get targeted. But if that’s the case, then it’s the Seattle Declaration.”
The statement, delivered with characteristic humor that drew laughter from the audience, represented a significant moment of political positioning by one of Kenya’s most beloved musicians.
The comment appeared to acknowledge the political risks associated with supporting Gachagua while simultaneously affirming his continued loyalty to the former Deputy President.
The event, co-organized by Samidoh and media personality Muthoni wa Kirumba (Baby Tops), brought together members of the Kenyan diaspora for what was billed as an evening of music and political engagement.
The gathering took on added significance as it marked Gachagua’s first international trip since his removal from office in October 2024.
Following his declaration, Samidoh launched into a stirring performance of “Mwene Nyaga,” a popular Mau Mau-era song that carries deep historical and cultural significance for the Mt. Kenya community.
The audience responded enthusiastically, singing along and raising their arms in solidarity, with many capturing the moment on their phones – ensuring the performance would reach audiences far beyond the Seattle venue.
The choice of “Mwene Nyaga” was particularly symbolic, as the song represents themes of resistance and cultural identity that have resonated with the Mt. Kenya community for generations.
By performing this specific song immediately after his declaration of support for Gachagua, Samidoh appeared to be drawing parallels between historical struggles and contemporary political dynamics.
The evening took on additional political weight with the presence of People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua, who joined Gachagua as a guest of honor.
After his performance, Samidoh greeted both leaders, drawing cheers from the crowd and further cementing the political nature of the gathering.
During his address to the audience, Gachagua praised Samidoh’s musical talent and emphasized the cultural value of Mt. Kenya music.
However, he also issued a cautionary note about the role of artists in political discourse, warning against being drawn into government messaging campaigns.
“Our great son Samidoh is also here. We really love his music. The other day, they were trying to coerce these musicians to go and sing to them and lie to the people of Kenya,” Gachagua stated.
“And I told them that’s not your work. Your work is to sing for us so that we can sleep well. To entertain us when we are relaxing.”
This statement appeared to reference ongoing debates about the appropriate role of artists in political campaigns and government messaging, particularly in light of recent efforts by various political figures to enlist musicians in their causes.
The Seattle event represents a significant moment in Kenya’s political landscape, as it demonstrates the continued influence of diaspora communities in domestic politics and highlights the complex relationship between entertainment and political expression.
Samidoh’s public declaration of allegiance to Gachagua, despite acknowledged risks, signals the deep political divisions that continue to shape Kenya’s political discourse.
The choice of venue – Seattle, far from the immediate pressures of Kenyan politics – may have provided a space for more open political expression than might be possible at home.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua departed for the United States today from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, marking his first international trip since leaving office.
Leading the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), Gachagua will undertake a two-month tour across several U.S. cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Baltimore.
The visit aims to engage the Kenyan diaspora through town hall meetings and social gatherings as Gachagua promotes his political agenda and rallies support ahead of the 2027 General Election.
While he has not officially declared his candidacy, Gachagua has been vocal about his intention to challenge President William Ruto’s re-election bid, vowing to limit Ruto to a single term.
Under the “wantam” slogan, Gachagua has allied with other opposition leaders, including Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, People’s Liberation Party’s Martha Karua, DAP-K’s Eugene Wamalwa, and former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, to mobilize support for the upcoming polls.
Sources indicate Gachagua’s itinerary includes meetings with U.S. investors reportedly interested in partnering with Kenya’s opposition ahead of 2027.
This visit follows Matiang’i’s own international campaign launch in Texas, signaling an intensifying push by opposition figures to gain traction both domestically and internationally.
In recent statements, Gachagua has emphasized a strategic shift for Kenya’s opposition, urging youth, particularly Gen Z, to channel their activism from street protests to electoral power.
He has expressed concern for the safety of young protesters while advocating for stronger voter mobilization efforts.
The former deputy president’s U.S. tour represents a critical step in building momentum for his political comeback as he seeks to leverage diaspora support and international partnerships to reshape Kenya’s political landscape ahead of the 2027 elections.
State House Senior Advisor Moses Kuria has taken off the gloves and launched a blistering attack on former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
In a sarcastic and biting online rant, Kuria accused Gachagua of plotting to rule Mt. Kenya politics through fear, control, and intimidation.
His comments came as Gachagua unveiled the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), which he hopes will strengthen his political base. But Kuria sees it differently — he says it’s the rise of dictatorship.
With sharp irony, Kuria painted Gachagua as a man obsessed with loyalty and blind obedience, warning Mt. Kenya leaders and voters not to fall for it.
Moses Kuria’s outburst signals a deepening rift within the Mt Kenya leadership. As 2027 approaches, tensions are rising between those loyal to Rigathi Gachagua (pictured) and those who believe the region needs new political direction. [Photo: Courtesy]
Moses Kuria Accuses Gachagua of Political Bullying in Mt Kenya
Moses Kuria’s recent statements have drawn a clear battle line in Mt Kenya’s political landscape. Through a social media post titled “The Making of a Dictator”, Kuria mocked Rigathi Gachagua’s leadership style and labelled his methods as coercive and outdated.
According to Kuria, Gachagua is pressuring Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata to support the newly formed DCP or risk losing his seat in 2027. Kuria ridiculed this move, saying it reveals Gachagua’s desire to rule the region with an iron fist.
More worrying, Kuria claims, is Gachagua’s plan to vet all DCP candidates personally. This, he argues, is a move to eliminate independent minds who don’t worship Gachagua’s style of leadership. The goal, Kuria said sarcastically, is to only allow those who submit fully to his authority to hold office.
Kuria listed five examples to highlight Gachagua’s “authoritarian traits,” which he described with stinging mockery:
Telling Governor Kang’ata he must follow orders or face political death.
Personally screening all party aspirants to eliminate “uneducated” ones.
Declaring all Mt Kenya parties apart from DCP as traitorous.
Branding leaders who don’t follow him as “brainless.”
Telling Mt Kenya musicians to only sing his praises, or be boycotted.
Kuria ended his rant with the brutal quip, “What next… All women whose first name is not Dorcas are sellouts and will not go to heaven?”
This pointed remark seemed to be a thinly veiled jab at Gachagua’s wife, Pastor Dorcas Gachagua, suggesting the former DP’s circle demands not just political, but personal loyalty.
Kuria’s voice is bold, controversial, and unmistakably clear—Mt. Kenya must not fall under one man’s grip. Whether voters listen remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Moses Kuria is not holding back. [Photo: Courtesy]
Kuria Warns Against Gachagua’s Control Over Artists and Leaders
Kuria didn’t stop at mocking politicians. He took direct aim at how Gachagua allegedly seeks to dominate every aspect of Mt Kenya society — including the entertainment industry. According to Kuria, Gachagua has told supporters to shun musicians who don’t publicly support him. He claims artists who refuse to sing his praise are being blacklisted from events, shows, and social platforms.
This move, Kuria says, mirrors tactics of political strongmen who silence all forms of dissent — even in music. He called out the absurdity of trying to control musicians’ creativity and the public’s listening choices. For Kuria, it’s a dangerous sign of growing intolerance and insecurity within Gachagua’s camp.
He warned that if such practices go unchecked, Mt Kenya risks becoming a political puppet zone, where only those loyal to one man’s ambition can thrive. Kuria insists that Mt Kenya needs open political competition, not forced conformity.
Moses Kuria Calls for Unity While Slamming Gachagua’s Allies
While Kuria’s attacks on Gachagua were fiery, he also used a Sunday event in Meru to issue a broader warning to the region’s leadership. Without naming names, he condemned those who, in his view, are pushing ethnic loyalty over national unity.
His criticism is seen as directed at Gachagua and his allies, who have been accused of turning Mt Kenya into a tribal voting bloc.
Kuria also took a swipe at Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro for questioning how the government is handling social security funds. He said it was immoral for leaders within government to publicly undermine its financial agenda.
According to him, Nyoro’s remarks were irresponsible and harmful to public trust in President William Ruto’s administration.
Kuria made it clear that while internal debate is healthy, leaders must be cautious not to feed public anxiety for political gain.
He urged Mt. Kenya leaders to focus on development and unity, not personal ambition or populist rhetoric.
Deputy President abandons usual calm demeanor in fiery confrontation with predecessor over musician boycott calls
KIAMBU – In an unprecedented display of public anger, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki on Sunday launched a scathing attack against his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua, telling him to respect boundaries and cease what he termed “backwards politics” in the Mount Kenya region.
The normally composed law professor shocked attendees at an economic empowerment program for small-scale traders’ SACCOs in Kabete, Kiambu County, when he abandoned his characteristic diplomatic tone to deliver a stern rebuke that left no room for misinterpretation.
“Please stop lecturing us; we are not your children. Do not make noise for me. Do not bring that kind of backwards politics here in Central,” Kindiki declared amid cheers from the crowd, his voice carrying an edge rarely heard in his public addresses.
The heated exchange stems from Gachagua’s explosive allegations earlier on Sunday in Murang’a, where the former DP accused Kindiki of bribing Mount Kenya musicians to attend an event at his Karen residence.
Gachagua claimed each artist received Ksh50,000 and called for a community boycott of musicians including Samidoh Muchoki, Karangu Muraya, Ben Githae, Jose Gatutura, DJ Fatxo, Sammy Irungu, Martin Wajanet, and Ngaruiya Junior.
Battle lines drawn
Gachagua’s inflammatory remarks went beyond mere accusations, as he urged Mount Kenya residents to unfollow the musicians on social media and demanded entertainment venues stop hosting them.
He claimed regional elders had given the artists an ultimatum to apologize or face consequences.
“They went and were given Ksh50,000. The people they go to entertain are tired of the administration, yet they go and sit down with people who are still frustrating us,” Gachagua had said, painting the meeting as a betrayal of community interests.
Rigathi Gachagua addressing supporters today.
Kindiki’s response was swift and unforgiving. Defending his actions as genuine goodwill rather than political manipulation, the DP questioned Gachagua’s moral authority to make such accusations.
“For you, when you were a leader, whom did you bribe or take your wealth to? The little that we give is not because we have excess wealth; it is out of good-heartedness,” Kindiki fired back, his frustration palpable.
The confrontation revealed deeper tensions as Kindiki reminded attendees of his unwavering loyalty to the current administration, contrasting it with what he implied was Gachagua’s opportunism.
He specifically referenced his role in defending President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court during the 2007 post-election violence proceedings.
“Is there anyone who fought for this government more than me? You recall that before Uhuru and Ruto even came together, I was the one who was there struggling for them at the Hague,” Kindiki stated, suggesting his commitment predated many current political alliances.
The public spat between the current and former deputy presidents signals a deepening rift within Mount Kenya’s political landscape.
Kindiki’s uncharacteristic outburst suggests mounting pressure and frustration with what the government views as destabilizing rhetoric from Gachagua’s camp.
The controversy over musician payments, while seemingly minor, has become a proxy battle for broader questions of political loyalty and community representation in the Mount Kenya region.
Gachagua’s call for boycotts represents an attempt to reassert influence over regional cultural and political narratives following his impeachment and replacement.
Community divided
The incident has divided opinion within the Mount Kenya community, with some supporting Gachagua’s stance against what they perceive as government co-optation of cultural figures, while others view Kindiki’s engagement with artists as legitimate community outreach.
The targeted musicians now find themselves caught in a political crossfire that could significantly impact their careers and community standing, highlighting the increasingly polarized nature of Mount Kenya politics.
As both leaders dig in their positions, the confrontation appears likely to escalate, with potential implications for political stability in Kenya’s most populous voting bloc ahead of 2027.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has dropped two petitions he had filed to stop his impeachment. His legal team says the cases are no longer necessary.
This move comes as Gachagua chooses to concentrate on a more important legal battle—the post-impeachment case that could define his political future.
The withdrawn petitions were originally aimed at blocking Parliament from kicking him out of office.
But now, his lawyers argue that the key legal questions raised in those cases are already part of the ongoing case, making the earlier petitions irrelevant.
The Gachagua petitions, once aimed at stopping his impeachment, have been withdrawn to focus on a stronger post-impeachment case. [Photo: Courtesy]
Ex-DP Gachagua Petitions Withdrawn After Court of Appeal Ruling
On Thursday, May 15, Gachagua’s lawyers formally asked the High Court to drop the two pre-impeachment petitions. The former deputy president filed these petitions in October last year when Parliament introduced a special motion to remove him from office on 11 charges.
These charges ranged from abuse of office to mismanagement of public funds. Gachagua, who now leads the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), believed the impeachment process was politically motivated. His initial legal strategy was to stop the National Assembly and Senate from debating and voting on the motion.
However, the legal landscape changed quickly. On May 9, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu. Mwilu had appointed three judges—Eric Ogolla, Anthony Murima, and Fred Mugambi—to handle the impeachment petitions.
Gachagua’s team opposed this, arguing that only the Chief Justice, Martha Koome, had the authority to create such a bench. The appellate court agreed with Gachagua. It ruled that the Chief Justice must personally appoint a bench to hear the case.
With this decision, Gachagua’s lawyers saw an opportunity to streamline the legal process. They withdrew the pre-impeachment cases and instead asked the High Court to forward the post-impeachment petition to Chief Justice Koome for action.
In their formal notice, the legal team wrote, “The conditional and legal issues raised in the above-mentioned pre-impeachment petitions are replicated in the post-impeachment petitions.” They requested the court to consider this overlap and treat the post-impeachment case as the main legal challenge going forward.
Political Stakes Still High for Gachagua
Even though Gachagua is no longer in office, his legal fight is far from over. The post-impeachment petition could determine whether the process that led to his removal was fair and constitutional. If the court finds faults in how Parliament handled the case, it could open the door for political or even legal consequences.
This case is not just about Gachagua’s personal reputation. It’s about the balance of power between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. His legal team is pushing to have a full bench hear the matter, which shows they are aiming for a thorough and transparent review.
There’s also a wider political dimension. Since his removal, Gachagua has rebranded himself through the DCP party. Winning this case could boost his chances of a political comeback. Losing it might permanently damage his career.
The next steps depend on Chief Justice Martha Koome. If she agrees to empanel a new bench, the post-impeachment petition will move forward. If not, Gachagua may face a longer legal battle, possibly dragging on for months.
What the Gachagua Petitions Mean for Legal Procedure
The withdrawal of the Gachagua petitions highlights a bigger issue—how legal procedures around impeachment are managed in Kenya. The Court of Appeal’s ruling made it clear: only the Chief Justice can appoint judges to hear such sensitive cases.
This decision reinforces the importance of following proper legal channels, especially in high-stakes political matters. It also places more responsibility on the Chief Justice’s office. With this new precedent, other political leaders facing similar battles may look to this case as a guide.
Whether you agree with Gachagua or not, his case is now part of a growing conversation about the independence of Kenya’s judiciary.
His team’s move to focus on one strong petition instead of juggling multiple cases may prove to be a smarter legal strategy. It avoids confusion, reduces court delays, and allows judges to zero in on the key constitutional questions.
As the country waits for Chief Justice Koome’s next move, one thing is clear—the outcome of the post-impeachment case could have a lasting impact on both law and politics in Kenya.
