Rigathi Gachagua’s unrestrained tirade has once again deepened fissures within Mt Kenya, his Embu rally on Saturday devolving into a series of personal attacks that underscored a politician more consumed by feuds than by forging unity ahead of 2027.
In a fiery address at Kutus, Kirinyaga—part of his whirlwind Mt Kenya tour—Gachagua revived old jabs at Governor Anne Waiguru, recalling his June 20 dismissal of her as “taka taka” (trash) and accusing her of fronting President William Ruto’s agenda in the region. The sneer delivered marked a continuation of his increasingly abrasive rhetoric, especially toward female leaders.
Just last month, he derided Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire as “bure kama supu ya malenge” (useless as pumpkin soup), vowing to unseat her in 2027. He has also labelled National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah and MPs Betty Maina, Hon Wamumbi, and Kawanjiku as “kunda gutume” (rotten messengers) and “sellouts,” threatening a political reckoning.
The Embu leg of his tour only heightened the hostility. Gachagua accused President Ruto of plotting to “split the mountain” by replacing Kikuyu voters with “Rift Valley imports,” a claim linked to Ruto’s October 6 remarks at State House. And in a defiant October 10 interview with Embu media, he reignited his long-standing feud with former President Uhuru Kenyatta, declaring: “I have no plans to apologize”
Gachagua’s political approach is self-destructive—alienating the very coalitions he would need to challenge Ruto’s dominance. Former CS Moses Kuria, though recently quiet on X, has today warned against attacks on women leaders, saying such conduct erodes any “kingpin” credibility.
Gachagua’s vengeance-first politics may well doom the “one mountain” dream he claims to defend. As one pundit put it: “You can’t heal the mountain by hacking at its roots.” Kenya’s politics demands dialogue, not daggers—before fissures become fault lines.
