Rigathi Gachagua's naivety and other lessons after speedy impeachment

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua senior lawyers at Milimani High Court on Oct 22, 2024. [David Gichuru, Standard]

The impeachment process that led to the removal of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office has taught Kenyans, leaders and more specifically future holders of the office many lessons.

Political scholars argue that Gachagua was a victim of his overzealous support for President William Ruto and the naïve belief that being part of the presidency made him indispensable.

“Never carry anybody’s baggage. Never fight a war that is not yours. Riggy G has been fighting everybody for the last two years including Uhuru and Raila,” says political commentator Philip Kisia.

He thinks Gachagua and others have now learned the need to build bridges and not to burn them, because he now has a tough task of building new ones across the political divide.

Another lesson that is now ingrained in the minds of many is that constitutionalism and the rule of law must be protected and defended at whatever cost.

“Kenyans must ensure that they are not attacked or intimidated because we now have a very thin line between anarchy and constitutionalism,” Kisia says.

Never trust

Gitile Naituli, who lectures leadership and management at Multi-Media University, thinks the Deputy President, who is now in court challenging his removal, also carelessly made many enemies while putting a lot of trust in President William Ruto.

“Never trust anyone in politics. He did not learn from past lessons and put 100 per cent trust in Ruto, yet when you look at history, Kenyan politicians are very untrustworthy,” says Prof Naituli.

He listed examples of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who was kicked out by Jomo Kenyatta after playing a big role in making him president and then Charles Njonjo and GG Kariuki, both removed by President Daniel arap Moi after they supported him to take power in 1978.

More recent examples include President Mwai Kibaki’s fallout with Raila Odinga after the latter declared his support for the former’s candidature at Uhuru Park in 2002.  The drama of Uhuru sidelining Ruto before the current fallout between the latter and Gachagua has also rocked the country.

Looking at other lessons learned from the impeachment, Prof Naituli and colleague Macharia Munene argue that Gachagua simply failed the test of good manners, which included the public attacks he unleashed against his boss.

Embattled former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is now seeking court intervention after the Senate upheld National Assembly's vote to impeach him. [File, Standard]

It is also argued that Gachagua should have insulated himself from cannibalistic politics by having his own party or staying put in Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party instead of leading the onslaught that has literally killed him.

“The only way you protect yourself in a cannibalistic and manner-less political sphere in Kenya is to fortify yourself by having your soldiers with you in a political party,” says Naituli.

It is argued that with a party supporting Ruto’s UDA, Gachagua could have ring-fenced the Mt Kenya region without being seen as a tribalist and remained to be a player in government without any unnecessary harassment.

And so because he trusted Ruto and mobilised support with no party and without a proper strategy, it became easy to knock him off despite the repercussions that could follow because of the clout and emotional support that he had gained.

“He was too naïve in the sense that he didn’t know that Ruto survived for 10 years with Uhuru, only because he had his own URP party. The respect for him ended after he dissolved URP to form Jubilee. Harassment started after that and Jubilee became a very unhappy house,” says Naituli.

Another lesson that has been confirmed in the impeachment process, the pundits say, is that Kenyan leaders cannot work with each other after a fallout either because of greed, sheer jealousy or lack of trust.

Fallouts began with Kenyatta disagreeing with Jaramogi, Moi having differences with Kibaki, and then firing Prof George Saitoti and Josepaht Karanja. The curse of the deputies still now continues deep into the 21st century following Gachagua’s impeachment.

Scholars argue that the country happens to suffer from a lack of team spirit. That could explain why it produces good athletes in individual sports as opposed to those involved in teamwork games like football.

“Look at many governors. If they could remove their deputies from office, many could have fired them a long time ago,” says Naituli.

It is also argued that good leaders don’t make enemies. that is another lesson that Gachagua failed to perfect when attacked former president Uhuru Kenyatta and his family, ODM leader Raila Odinga and Kenyans who did not vote for President Ruto.

Kisia says when friends help one to climb a political ladder, he or she once up there should look down and convert those who did not help into friends but not create more enemies.

“Weak leaders perpetually create enemies and conflict and If not controlled they can destroy society but good leaders only build society because they have a high degree of tolerance and the capacity to learn,” says Kisia.

He says Gachagua should also learn that there are no permanent enemies in politics and look for other politicians like Kalonzo Musyoka or even Raila and Uhuru to work with.

Prof Naituli also thinks Gachagua should not have maintained serious enmity against Raila after winning elections, because he needed to build a bigger support to fight again in future elections.

The analysts think Gachagua overstepped his mandate and it should be a lesson to future deputy presidents, and that he never realised that he was not the president, especially while addressing the media during the Raila-led demonstrations last year.

“He was saying we will not talk to him because the only thing we can discuss is how we can take Raila to Bondo. Who was he to say that when he was not the president?” asks Naituli.

Future deputies will therefore have to learn when to stop campaigning after elections and to also know that being too aggressive and disrespectful is not a leadership virtue.

It is also good for a leader holding such a coveted office to mind his or her language because a deputy should not be seen as uncouth or as an irritant.

John Lichuma, a former history lecturer at Masinde Muliro University, also asked leaders to be sensible because he thinks Gachagua had no business insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta when he handed over power at Kasarani in 2022.

Naituli also called on leaders to show restraint instead of engaging in violent activities like the attack that was allegedly sponsored by politicians on the Kenyatta family property on the outskirts of Nairobi.

“Speaking the truth is not a weakness and is not bad. But it is the way of speaking it that matters. There is a saying that speak the truth, but say it sweetly and gently,” added Naituli

It is clear that personal interest is still a big issue in politics and Deputy President Gachagua was not an exception when he went around speaking about shareholders in government.

President William Ruto shakes hands with Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at a past event. [File, Standard]

Politics is driven by selfish and individual interests and not by national needs for all the people or the good of the country.

Although the Gen Z protests a few months ago showed that tribal interests will soon be discarded to the dustbins of history, the Gachagua saga has also shown that ethnic tensions will continue rearing their ugly head.

Better economy

Prof Naituli thinks the President realised the Kikuyu voting block had abandoned him and his UDA party because of the non-delivery of promises and poor performance of the economy.

“He figured out that Gachagua would not be useful in future because it would be difficult to get the Mt Kenya West vote again in his basket. But both the President and his deputy failed to understand that Kenya has changed and young people will no longer vote on tribal lines,” Kisia concurs.

The analysts argue that older politicians should realise that appointing someone to a big position just because of the community they come from will no longer be a factor in future because people want a better economy that provides medicine in hospitals, good roads, well-funded education and an end to corruption, and other good governance demands.

Although the impeachment process proved that influencing leaders is still a big factor, because of the speed in which it was conducted, it may also not play a significant role in future because of a more conscious voting population that is emerging.

MPs in Parliament made the two-thirds majority rule for impeaching a deputy president look so easy to get, but analysts think it is good that the country enacted such laws in 2010. Because without it, worse things can be done by the political class.