Rigathi Gachagua’s fight for political resurrection is crumbling. The impeached former Deputy President, once Mt. Kenya’s self-proclaimed “truthful man,” is now tangled in a web of failed legal gambits and shrinking political goodwill.
Last week, Chief Justice Martha Koome publicly shredded his claim that he can run for office while impeachment proceedings remain unresolved. “If you are impeached, you are impeached until that impeachment is lifted,” she declared on Spice FM – a direct blow to Gachagua’s comeback script.
The Senate removed him in October 2024 on five counts, including abuse of office and constitutional breaches – a historic first for Kenya’s deputy presidency. His repeated attempts to derail the case have failed, with the High Court rejecting his latest bid to disqualify the three-judge bench hearing it.
Political analysts say Gachagua has misled Mt. Kenya twice – first by leading it into William Ruto’s camp after vilifying Uhuru Kenyatta, then by weaponising tribal rhetoric to rally support for a personal feud with the president.
With legal walls closing in and allies distancing themselves, Gachagua’s once-formidable influence is evaporating. Koome’s words may have sounded his political death knell: the law, she said, is not a buffet to be picked over for convenience.
