Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has dismissed accusations that he is a tribal politician, questioning the basis on which such claims are being made against him.
Speaking during an interview with Kameme FM on Monday, March 17, 2025, Gachagua asserted that those aligned with President William Ruto should be the last people to level such accusations against him, as they are the very ones who sit at the helm of power where appointments and dismissals are decided.
According to Gachagua, his political arrangement with Ruto was a straightforward agreement based on mutual benefit, not tribalism, and Ruto himself was the one churning out the vice by favouring his region in appointments while sidelining Mt. Kenya.
“We had an agreement, and there was no tribalism in honouring that agreement. We gave him votes, and in return, he gave us seats. No one accused Raila of tribalism when his allies received key government positions. Deborah was defended from being ousted, and no one called that tribalism. But when I defend our people, suddenly, I am labelled tribal,” Gachagua asserted.
He went further to lament that the same critics who now brand him tribal remained silent when allies of opposition leader Raila Odinga were given key positions in government.
Citing an example, Gachagua referenced how the National Assembly Budget Committee that was previously chaired by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro had been handed over to Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi.
He argued that such changes, which saw positions taken away from Mt Kenya leaders, pointed to a deliberate attempt to sideline the region.
“The Budget and Appropriations Committee was taken away from Ndindi Nyoro and given to Sam Atandi. This seat was in Mt Kenya, and he should have looked for someone else in Mt Kenya, but he took it elsewhere,” he asserted.
Grave mistake
Gachagua admitted that he had made a grave political miscalculation by leading Mt Kenya into the 2022 general election without a political party of their own.
He likened the situation to attending a wedding using another person’s invitation card, insisting that the region should have fielded its own political vehicle rather than fully trusting Ruto.
“It would have been better if we had a party as a tribe. And we made a mistake trusting him, thinking he would not betray us,” he said.
The former deputy president acknowledged that in the early days of the Kenya Kwanza administration, Ruto had kept his promise by awarding the region key ministries.
However, he opined that things took a turn when the appointments of principal secretaries were made, arguing that the president strategically ensured that his own region retained more influential roles.
“The ministries were given to us, but things changed later. The Ministry of Finance, Interior, Water, and Lands were all given to our people at first. But then he gave all the principal secretary positions to his region, and our people became flower girls,” he lamented.
Gachagua further noted that the removal of Mt Kenya leaders from key positions was a systematic purge that began subtly before becoming more overt.
He recalled how he was sidelined when he first attempted to speak against the dismissals and accused the president of orchestrating his downfall by rallying cabinet secretaries against him.
“I once said so, and William Ruto shut me down. I had seen that he had started sending our people away from the government slowly by slowly. I used to police-mark him and ensure that our people could not be fired,” he remarked.
One of the key dismissals that troubled him, he said, was that of a person by the name of Mburu from a top Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) position.
According to Gachagua, Mburu’s removal was just the beginning of a series of targeted dismissals that ultimately left Mt Kenya leaders weakened within the government.
“The KRA seat had Mburur, and he fired him and gave it to someone else. And now our people have seen a lot of trouble,” he noted.
Troubles
Gachagua further narrated that his troubles within the government escalated when he openly voiced his concerns about Mt Kenya being sidelined.
He suggested that this was when Ruto started plotting his impeachment, a move that the president initiated by turning the cabinet against him.
“The trouble for me started after I started faulting him for sidelining Mt Kenya people. That was when he started planning my impeachment. I called my cabinet and told them, but he called them and lied to them to rally against me,” Gachagua alleged.
He expressed regret that no other leader from Mt Kenya had taken a stand against the dismissals, accusing them of remaining silent even as the purge continued.
According to him, the region had been systematically weakened in government, and he was now the only voice standing up against the injustices being meted out against them.
“Now he is not shy of firing Mt Kenya people. I never used to allow him to do that,” he declared.
