Rigathi Gachagua’s political journey has become a masterclass in contradiction.
Before his impeachment in October 2024, he was the loudest voice behind the “shareholders” doctrine, a divisive philosophy that sought to allocate government development based on voting patterns rather than national need.
In his own words, those who voted for the Kenya Kwanza administration were the “shareholders” of government, entitled to the fruits of power, while regions like Western and Luo Nyanza, which largely voted for the opposition, were to expect little or nothing.
This was a dangerous, undemocratic rhetoric that reduced governance to a transactional enterprise, where loyalty to the ruling party determined access to public goods and betrayed Kenya’s constitutional promise of equality and inclusivity. Gachagua made it a convenient political tool that resonated with his Mt Kenya base.
However, the turning point came when President William Ruto extended an olive branch to Raila Odinga after the Gen-Z protests, inviting the ODM leader into a broad-based government. This turned the political tables within the Kenya Kwanza administration. Gachagua, feeling sidelined, accused Ruto of abandoning Mt Kenya and diverting development to Luo Nyanza.
He couched his public outbursts against Ruto in the language of betrayal for his political survival, trying to cut an image of a defender of Mt Kenya’s people. ”Usiguze Murima,” was a direct warning to Ruto not to take any position in government from Mt Kenya and hand it to ‘others.’
The fallout was inevitable, and his impeachment in October 2024 marked the culmination of months of defiance and political brinkmanship.
Two years after his removal, Gachagua continues to reinvent his narrative. Now claiming that Ruto is “playing” the Luo people and that the region will regret trusting him. A glaring irony compared to his earlier stance.
”Nyinyi Wajaluo mmekula Samaki akili yenu iko juu zaidi lakini mimi ni rafiki yenu. Nataka niwaambie, huyu Kasongo (William Ruto) anashinda huko kwenu vile alikuwa anashinda hapa Mt Kenya. Alikuja hapa Mt Kenya akatudanganya na bibilia, alikuwa anaimba wimbo zetu, alikuwa anaongea Kikuyu akatueka kwa box na tukampatia kura millioni nne. Nyinyi wajaluo huyu kasongo akimalizana na nyinyi mtakuja kuniambia,” Gachagua said in Murang’a.
The same man who once argued that Luo Nyanza deserved no development now positions himself as their defender against alleged deceit from President William Ruto, who has been on a tour of Luo Nyanza counties from Friday.
Former Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu captured this hypocrisy succinctly when he remarked, “First, Gachagua tells us how upset he was when Ruto started taking development to Nyanza. Then he tells Nyanza how much they will cry because Ruto is lying to them. Which is which?”
This inconsistency exposes the hollowness of Gachagua’s politics. The flip-flops are not guided by conviction or ideology but by political expediency. When it suits him, he is the champion of Mt Kenya’s economic empowerment; when politically cornered, he becomes the critic of ethnic favoritism. In both cases, the underlying motive remains self-preservation.
As days go by, and 2027 polls draw closer, Gachagua’s political trajectory erodes trust, deepens division, and keeps on undermining national cohesion. His “shareholders” doctrine may have earned him applause in certain quarters in Mt Kenya, but it also exposed the fragility of Kenya’s democratic ethos, where public service is too often replaced by patronage and populism.
