The fallout between Mbeere North aspirant Duncan Ireri Mbui and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has exposed the inner workings of the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), with insiders pointing to a staggering Kshs. 30 million financial demand as the reason Mbui was denied the party ticket.
Mbui, the outgoing MCA for Evurore Ward, resigned his seat after being convinced by Gachagua—through Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji—to contest the parliamentary seat under DCP. Confident of the backing of the party leader, Mbui poured resources into the ground, spending over Kshs. 10 million on merchandise, logistics, and grassroots mobilization. He had also paid Kshs. 5 million to secure the party ticket.
But as the campaigns drew closer, Gachagua reportedly tabled a new condition: Mbui was required to deposit Kshs. 30 million upfront to finance Gachagua’s personal campaign program in Mbeere.
According to insiders, Gachagua’s team presented Mbui with a three-month campaign budget that included chopper rides, church harambees, fuel for Gachagua’s fleet, and allowances for his team of photographers, videographers, and security personnel. The budget was structured at Kshs. 5 million per week over six weeks, totaling the now infamous Kshs. 30 million.
This figure was independent of what Mbui himself was expected to spend mobilizing supporters, organizing rallies, and financing local logistics. In effect, even before official campaigning began, Mbui was staring at an outlay of Kshs. 45 million—a staggering amount compared to the Kshs. 24 million maximum earnings an MP could make over the two years remaining in the current term.
With campaigns for the November by-elections drawing closer, Mbui’s exit has thrown the DCP strategy into disarray. Analysts say the seat was crucial for Gachagua to test his new party’s influence in Embu, but the bitter fallout may have dented its image at a critical moment.
Mbui balked at the demand, questioning the logic of spending nearly double the potential returns for the seat. His hesitation, sources claim, led Gachagua to shift allegiance and begin pursuing a deal with the Democratic Party, effectively locking Mbui out of the ticket he had been promised.
“I trusted Gachagua’s word, and I even resigned my MCA seat,” Mbui lamented. “I have lost over Kshs. 10 million, only to be told at the last minute that I have no ticket.”
Observers warn that the scandal has once again cast Gachagua as a leader more focused on financial gain than party growth, with grassroots supporters now accusing him of using aspirants as cash cows before discarding them.
