The Gema Gikuyu Embu Meru cultural association in conjunction with the Akamba community on Thursday revealed that President William Ruto assured its representatives in August that he would protect Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from humiliation and persecution within Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

But contrary to that assurance, the association noted that Mr Gachagua has been at the centre of ceaseless fire from a section of elected leaders.

The association observed that the second in command continues to suffer vitriol and threatening of impeachment "especially from our very own community leaders elected".

The association said the calls about impeachment have recently gained momentum with community leaders within the Mountain partnering with other president Ruto's friends from other regions.

"In August this year, in the height of the Gen Zs protests, Gema leaders sought and were granted an appointment with our leader, His Excellency the President.  At the meeting, Gema leadership candidly discussed a number of issues with the President and he gave us a good reception and assurance especially in favour of the DP," the elders noted. 

Chaired by Retired Bishop Lawi Imathiu and Bishop Peter Njenga (Co-Chairman), Arthur Namu (General Secretary), and George Ndotto (Member), they expressed fears that the situation is becoming untenable.

The elders in the cultural association noted with disdain that the president appears to have since reneged on the promise to protect his deputy.

The elders' meeting that happened at the Kenya Methodist Resort and Conference centre in Nairobi resolved to offer unwavering support to the besieged second in command whose impeachment seem larger than fiction.

"We stand in solidarity with DP Gachagua and demand that he should be let to finish his term. The people who voted for President Ruto and Gachagua gave them a five-year mandate which should be let to run its course. To isolate Gachagua from that ticket and subjecting him to unwarranted public lynching and intimidation is hypocritical and mischievous," they noted.

Unless the President has okayed these attacks, they said, the members of parliament should get on with their work and leave the Deputy President to do his work.  

The elders said they will forever remain in the side of goodwill by heeding to the call of prayers for peace, tranquility, good health and prosperity of the nation and her leaders.

"Gema seeks the welfare, peace and prosperity of its member communities and cohesion in Kenya, and comprises the communities of Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and the Akamba, following formal integration of the Akamba community into the Association," their statement said.

They however said they are alarmed by recent ongoing occurrences in the country "ranging from wanton abductions and disappearances of Kenyans, coming in the wake of recent demonstrations by our children, commonly referred to as Generation Z, who have been clamoring for good governance in the country".

They said "many of the Gen Zs have been severely brutalized by security forces, some killed, hundreds arrested and scores abducted, reportedly by the security forces".

The elders added that many of the abductees have not been found and their families are in great pain and anguish.

"Kenyans are not convinced by denials of the police that they never carried out the abductions. The failure by the police to arrest and charge the abductors and those who have meted violence, maimed or killed our young people has increased suspicions that the police are involved. Kenyans want the police investigated and those found culpable charged in courts of law," their statement added.

The elders also called out a scheme that they said targets to divide and create isolations within the Gema Communities "manifest in the attempt by some of our own people to divide the community into East and West of the Mt Kenya camps".  They said the plot is accompanied by insults and humiliations of former president Uhuru Kenyatta and various attacks on Gachagua".

They observed that the scheme will have ramifications at the political, economic, and social levels. 

"Further, we are concerned with the instability seen in health care delivery, the entire education sector and in particular higher education, and the rising unemployment of our youth," they said.

They said they had sought the president's audience on the issues and where he gave them positive assurances.

But now, they feel that the country continues to depart from the highway to good governance, entering into a loop of recklessness that bypass the good and the desired to acts that risk despondency.

"It saddens Kenyans and Gema communities in particular, that three (3) years before the next General Election due in 2027, some elected leaders in the Mt Kenya region have continued to ignore the plight of the millions of people that voted for them to their current offices and instead are preoccupying themselves in rivalry between themselves; speculative competition; and scheming for 2032 elections; while other regions in Kenya are settled and peaceful, and pursuing development," their statement reads.

The elders said there are fever-pitch activities aimed at dividing the communities of Mt Kenya around certain political figures who allegedly hope to inherit the position of the Deputy President, terming it as mischief.

In the recent past, some elected leaders bringing together president's loyalists have installed Interior CS Kithure Kindiki as their spokesman as they continue to plan Gachagua ouster.

The Gema elders now want an immediate cessation of hostilities between politicians from Mt Kenya in particular and the country in general and instead focus be on delivering services to Kenyans. 

They also raised concerns that the social media continues to be home to perpetrators of hate speech, "some of which is very grave in disparaging Gema communities, should be investigated and those implicated charged".

The cultural elders urged elected leaders especially from Mt Kenya who have been propagating divisive propaganda to cease the attacks on the Deputy President and drop their noted conniving to sponsor an impeachment motion against him.

They termed the proposed impeachment as mischief that should be abandoned forthwith.

"In the event that the threat to sponsor an impeachment motion against Gachagua is carried out by others, we urge all the elected leaders with roots in Gema to vote against it. The people under us will consider those who continue fighting the Deputy President and conspiring with others from other regions against him, to be unsuitable and unworthy leaders in our communities," their statement ruled.

They said "we state unequivocally that Gachagua is a son in our community and those attacking him are pursuing their greedy selfish interests and those of their sponsors, but not of the Gema community in any way".

The cultural elders added that they disapprove the disposal and leasing of national assets that includes strategic parastatals like Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), and others under guise of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).