Rigathi Gachagua has built a political brand on branding any Mt Kenya leader who visits or works with President William Ruto as a “traitor,” “sell-out,” or “mole” who must be cancelled by voters in 2027. He has repeatedly warned that such leaders are betraying the community for personal gain and has urged their constituents to “show them the door.”
Yet the same Rigathi Gachagua has spent the past several weeks at his Wamunyoro home hosting delegations from across the country, including grassroots leaders from Laikipia in the Rift Valley. These meetings have been presented as legitimate consultations on the country’s future and the formation of the “6th Administration.”
The contradiction is glaring and deliberate.
When leaders from Murang’a, Kiambu or other Mt Kenya counties attend meetings at State House, Gachagua labels them enemies of the mountain who have sold their people. He has publicly shamed them, called for their political isolation, and framed their engagement with the national government as an act of communal betrayal.
But when he himself hosts politicians and opinion leaders from Rift Valley counties at his private residence, the same standard of “loyalty” suddenly does not apply. These visitors are not called traitors to their communities. They are welcomed as partners in consultations.This is not principle. It is naked hypocrisy.
Gachagua’s definition of betrayal is not based on any consistent ideology or national interest. It is based solely on whether the engagement benefits or threatens his personal political project. Visiting Ruto makes one a traitor. Visiting Gachagua makes one a hero or a strategic partner.
This selective outrage exposes the emptiness of his post-impeachment politics. A leader who demands total loyalty from others while freely engaging across regions for his own advantage has no moral authority to police anyone else’s political relationships.
Kenyans, especially in Mt Kenya, should ask the obvious question: if engaging with the sitting government makes one a traitor, why is Gachagua himself so comfortable building alliances with leaders from outside his own backyard?
The answer is simple. For Rigathi Gachagua, loyalty is not a principle. It is a tool he uses only when it serves his ambition. When it does not, the rules change. That is not leadership. It is political opportunism of the highest order.
