Some lines are sacred. Rigathi Gachagua just bulldozed straight through one.
In Nyamira Town today, as the United Opposition tour rolled on, the impeached former Deputy President didn’t stop at criticizing living rivals. He turned his venom on the late Raila Odinga — the architect of Kenya’s multiparty era, the father of devolution, the man Kenya buried with national mourning just months ago in October 2025.
Video evidence captures Gachagua’s words to Abagusii crowds:
“Mlikuwa hamuendi kwa meza ya kitaifa, direct. Mlikuwa mnatumia broker huko ODM, akipata serikali anakula peke yake.”
Raila — the fighter who endured detention, championed the 2010 Constitution that built Nyamira and Kisii’s infrastructure, and delivered consistent votes from these very regions — demoted to a selfish “broker” who “eats alone.”
This isn’t tough opposition talk. It’s desecration.
Raila Odinga shaped modern Kenya: second liberation, inclusivity across tribes, devolution that empowered counties like Nyamira. To reduce that towering legacy to a transactional insult — while standing on soil that benefited directly from his battles — is not politics. It’s contempt for a nation still grieving.
Kenyans aren’t silent. Social media boils: calls label it “pathetic,” demand mental checks, declare “emotional intelligence zero,” insist “no need for insults to the late.” The outrage crosses ethnic lines because respect for the dead is a Kenyan value, not a tribal one.
This follows yesterday’s racist jab at Kisii voters for choosing “Muhindi” MP Zaheer Jhanda. First Asian-Kenyans are outsiders. Now a deceased national hero is a greedy middleman exploiting “your” votes. The message? Only Gachagua’s narrow ethnic script counts. Everyone else — living or dead — is expendable.
While Kalonzo Musyoka, Fred Matiang’i, Eugene Wamalwa, and George Natembeya share the stage, this bile flows unchecked. “Hata kama ni kura za Mlima mmedanganywa mtapatiwa” excuses nothing. Bigotry remains bigotry.
Kenya’s democracy is young, its unity hard-won. Rally words echo far — they inflame, divide, erode trust. Mocking a dead leader isn’t strategy for 2027; it’s a warning that identity politics could drag us backward.
Article 10 demands national unity and human dignity. Gachagua just trampled both.
The opposition must choose: condemn this grave-robbing rhetoric or own its fallout. Kenya buried Raila Odinga as a statesman. Let him rest. Fight with ideas, not insults to graves.
The nation is watching — and it is furious.
