Kiunjuri throws cold water on Gachagua political manoeuvres

The battle lines in Mt Kenya region are clearly drawn, President William Ruto allies on one side and those for former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on the other.

As the clock ticks towards 2027 General Election where President Ruto will be seeking a second term, Mr Gachagua has vowed to make him a one-term State House tenant, saying he means business.

In the stalemate comes Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri who is a Kenya Kwanza Alliance principal who joined it riding in his own The Service Party (TSP). 

He is the most vocal pro-Ruto supporter and the only one who never shies away from exchanging political punches with Mr Gachagua while standing nose to nose with him. 

As Gachagua who President Ruto sponsored his impeachment in October 2024 readies the country to receive his Mt Kenya direction, Mr Kiunjuri throws cold water on the anxiety and the huge expectations from Wamunyoro. 

Mr Kiunjuri says there is nothing big in a politician unveiling a political party, a feat he says has been in play since colonial days. 

Mr Kiunjuri says politicians coming up with political parties and issuing directives is a more than 70-year-old game--older than Mr Gachagua himself who is 59 years old.

Mr Kiunjuri spoke to AVDelta News' Political Desk about the political temperatures in Mt Kenya region, President Ruto's fortunes in the region that practically hauled him up into State House tenancy and his chances of remaining the area's top favourite in the wake of a serious Gachagua onslaught

Q: What is the current situation in Mt Kenya politics?

A: It is fluid. It is unfortunate situation where we have become crybabies despite being the most favoured in the government. We have emerged as a region that is selfish, thankless and hellbent to show contempt to those showing us love. We are being made to look as if we have our own General Election that we are holding anytime before the known 2027. In short, we have abandoned our people's quest for development to embrace senseless politicking.

Q: Are you talking about Rigathi Gachagua and his already declared intention to lead Mt Kenya to make President Ruto a one-term president?

A: I am talking about him and all those political greenhorns who now want to exhibit entitlement to Mt Kenya politics. Those isolating us from the rest of the country by confining us to island politics. Where instead of devising for us opposition politics that demands development he is demanding one-term presidency. His main agenda is revenge on all those who impeached him. He is not interested in social, economic and democratisation of our region. His single goal is to kick out all of us who impeached him.

Q. But politics is about whipping up all those passions that earn you a following. Instead of complaining why not present a better option to area voters?

A: We are doing that. We are already on the ground offering development agenda as alternative to politicking. The problem is that Mr Gachagua has made it a competition of verbal combat. We speak development and he comes to where we were last to preach about heckling and rejecting those coming with development. We are government and we have a bigger calling to be civil and decent. There is a language we cannot use but he is using it. We will slowly edge him out. We only need to have contractors and work on ground to silence him.

Q: To mean you are not scared of his new political party that he seeks to unveil in May?

A: Afraid of what? We have seen so many political parties being rolled out to a point another coming in is just a formality. I have my own The Service Party (TSP). He is the only big league pretender player who does not have a political party. Creating one for himself is not news. I congratulate him for joining the league of political party founders. You wonder what was in his mind to have waited to live to see six decades of his life to think of a political party. I had a political party when I was half his age. 

Q: Is it arrogance that guides you or is it reality?

A: It depends on what you want to deduce out of me. Look, Mr Gachagua has confessed that he blundered to go into 2022 General Election without a political party. He is putting his house in order. That house is not mine. Why should it concern me? He has set himself a target of kicking out President William Ruto out of power in 2027. I don't share that goal. He has set himself another goal of kicking out all of us who impeached him. If there is a chance to impeach him again I would gladly do it. I mean, I'm calling off his bluff. We are not his simpletons to live in the shadow of his threats.

Q: Mr Gachagua has said you do sell timber, poles, charcoal and firewood to government hence why you have pawned your brain to President Ruto to be thinking on your behalf. True?

A: I have been in that business long before President Ruto rode into power. Mr Gachagua and I are businessmen. After he was impeached on among others, ground of corruptly exercising conflict of interest by doing business with government when he was Deputy President, I'm yet to be called out for a similar fraud. I don't want to defend myself where none has properly accused me. But I want to urge Mr Gachagua to appreciate the fact that we cannot all be his supporters. Not following him does not mean we do not have brains of our own. What if president Ruto said the same about those who do not follow him? Would it be wise to say Gachagua has no brain of his own too that he, say, has given it to Gathoni wa Muchomba to carry it for him in her handbag?

Q: Is it over for Ruto in Mt Kenya?

A: Because Mr Gachagua says so three(3) years before the first ballot is cast? Simply because a bitter man who is out to revenge has said so? I doubt. We are a team being led by conscious minds. We know we have a problem but we are addressing it. Mt Kenya will not be zoned by anyone and all democratic processes that apply in political competitions must also apply in Mt Kenya. We will refuse to have ownership and belonging rights being grabbed by any wing. We will compete.

Q: I read a lot of fear for Gachagua in you. True?

A: Yes, I fear his attack mode against our President and those of us he deems as his opponents. I don't think I fancy being called a traitor, betrayer, collaborator and all those awkward terms he brands his competitors. But if it is about political competition, none of us following president Ruto is afraid of him. We have been in competitions and this is just as normal as others. We will take him head on.

Q: Are you not afraid that former president Uhuru Kenyatta appears to be linking up with Gachagua. Will you survive?

A: The former president has equal right to choose where to belong. He recently met with President Ruto and made it public. There are those commitments he made with President Ruto. We happen to know. Should he at a certain point feel he wants to change his mind, we are okay with it. At least we are tolerant and acknowledge we cannot force him to support those he decides not to. He is either with us or he is competing with us and the tallying will give us results. 

Q: What exactly went wrong between Gachagua and Ruto?

A: You did not see the 11 charges that we used to on behalf of the country kick him out of office? He was dragging the president into very strange application of power. Here we have a president commanded to be the symbol of national unity, serve all without fear or favour, fight corruption... generally, serve within the tenets of pursuing the goal of a united country. Mr Gachagua was trying to manipulate the president to be the direct opposite. He was setting up the president for impeachment. 

Q: What went wrong between Gachagua and Mt Kenya leaders?

A: We held many meetings as Mt Kenya leaders. We even pleaded his case directly with the president. We won him more time to reflect on his politics. We postponed efforts to impeach him by more than a year. He deliberately refused to change. I know of about 10 Mt Kenya elected leaders who nearly got depressed when they realised they had no choice but to impeach him. It was not an easy decision. If only he was a person who learns from mistakes, we would host him and tell him we are sorry for doing to him what we had to do.

Q: It appears President Ruto's approach is that Mt Kenya must be divided for him to have hope of scooping a meaningful share in 2027

A: The president is only looking at the most practical way of stabilising his government. We are being too harsh to this president. He has done a lot to maintain cordial relations with Mt Kenya. He has gone out of his way to deliberately focus on Mt Kenya. He knows a united Mt Kenya is more beneficial to him than a divided one. It is only that there are disgruntled people who want to paint our president as divisive. That is not true. 

Q: Is (Deputy President) Kithure Kindiki helping the Ruto ship in the country and in Mt Kenya?

A: Yes he is. Prof Kindiki has given the presidency that touch of decency and respect. He has come with more modesty and commitment to the core cause why governments are elected--to serve the people first and politick when legally permitted by electoral cycles. Prof Kindiki does not present himself as a man with an eye in 2027, he is having his focus on getting the job done. He is in perfect sync with the president. 

Q: You see Mt Kenya making it to Ruto running mate in 2027?

A: That is for the president to decide since it is his responsibility to do so. You saw in 2022 when all of us were supporting Kindiki but he overruled us and picked Gachagua. In 2027 we got no choice but to give President Ruto the responsibility to give us his running mate. But that not to mean we are not bidding for it. In this business, you must justify why it should be your ground that should be favoured. We have a duty to ensure that we present ourselves as a region that can add value to the flag bearer. That is our goal for now and we must tune Mt Kenya to emerge the best to produce the running mate. 

Q: What if it comes out clearly that Ruto has no Mt Kenya chance? Will you jump the ship?

A: Politics is not a matter of life and death. There are many ways of packaging and repackaging. Dynamics in politics offers many alternatives. What is obvious is that the best action plan for now is to stick with the president to the finishing line and see what comes out of it. As of now, jumping ship is not an option and it is just a matter of time before you see tables starting to turn. In government, I have the benefit of knowing some intricate happenings before they come out in the open. I can for sure tell you that President Ruto has his cards right.