From 'Zakayo' to 'Kasongo': Pres Ruto scooping honours in nicknames as Riggy G's drama takes runners-up

When President William Ruto and Rigathi Gachagua enjoyed a cup of tea in the house of Mama Mirriam Njeri in Muranga County after launching the last mile electricity connectivity project before Gachagua was impeached as Deputy President. [PCS] 

He may not have won the infamous Person of the Year award given to him by snoopy scribes, but President William Ruto is undoubtedly Kenya’s person of 2024.

He started in 2023 as Zakayo, a name granted to him courtesy of his alleged craving for more taxes like his Biblical equivalent, Zacchaeus. By the time 2024 was ending, few could recall that Ruto once went by the name Hustler. The Head of State is now known as Kasongo after a song by the same name.

Going by how he grooved to the tune as he crossed into 2025, the President seemingly finds the name inoffensive, which is strange, as some young Kenyans were allegedly abducted for calling him that and for depicting him in horrid ways.

Ruto entered 2024 optimistic. He managed to reduce the opposition’s grumbling to mere whimpers, stringing them along in a dialogue process he knew was going nowhere. His administration had brutally quelled anti-government protests months earlier, leaving the opposition with few options to counter the State.

In keeping with his promise to have the opposition in the cold, Ruto treated a report that would establish the office of the leader of the opposition casually. The only place he wanted the Raila Odinga-led Azimio was as far away from him as possible.

That was until Kenyans born after the turn of the millennium dared to challenge the State and its systems over proposed tax hikes. Thinking he would deal with Generation Zs as he had Members of Parliament, Ruto thought he would force the new taxes through.

“Reject the Finance Bill, 2024!” Gen Zs shouted their throats hoarse.

Already used to the opposition demos, Ruto was largely unfazed. Then came June 2024, a day young Kenyans, frustrated by the MP’s indifference to their cries, stormed Parliament, a House desecrated by lawmakers who traded their independence to the Executive.

First came the bullets, then the deaths and abductions. The retreat eventually came. Abducting Kenyans, it seemed, was a habit the State would not let go. And so months after denying, accepting, denying and accepting again that there were abductions, nothing has changed.

Along the way, Ruto found out that Raila’s company was not so bad after all, especially when it helped him soak up some of the public discontent in his administration. Eagerly campaigning to send Tinga to Addis, it, however, seems that the President ultimately does not fancy having the former prime minister close by.

He recently reached out to former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who Ruto had accused of plotting cruel things against him and his family.

If Ruto is the person of the year, then former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua must be the runner-up.

When former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua acknowledged greetings from residents of Engineer Town in Kinangop, Nyandarua County, after attending Holy Mass at St Stephen Catholic Parish, Karoroha, Nyandarua County on July 28, 2024. [DPCS]

The man from Wamunyoro village in Mathira, Nyeri County, started 2024 “in power”, as he reminded anyone who might have dared forget that fact, including the media, which he obviously hated.

Bwana Riggy G had spent the previous year laying traps for Raila at the State House, vowing that the former premier would not get a slice of the Kenya Kwanza cake. The government had its shareholders and outsiders were not invited.

Had he known what lay ahead, Riggy G would not have wasted his days setting traps at a neighbour’s house. The former DP was optimistic about the year that ended. Yet to fully fall out with his boss, he promised Kenyans that they would witness the fruits of the “freedom” that came in August 2022.

The only freedom Riggy G would eventually enjoy was from the “power” that made him drunk, allowing him to focus fully on his Murima gospel.

Five months into last year, there were signs that fahali wawili had started to fight. Ruto and Riggy G initially dismissed such talk as they had the previous year. But the cracks showed when the former DP skipped the Head of State’s events.

The Gen Z revolt tore them apart before it briefly reunited them. Riggy G, who realized his traps had been ineffective, rushed back to salvage what he could of his broken relationship with Ruto. He feared that Raila, whose continental bid the President supported, would replace me.

And Riggy G would heap praises on a man he once swore to send back to “Bondo” to enjoy his “permanent retirement from Kenyan politics”. But the truthful man was merely predicting his future. Removed from office by impeachment, there are a few elective offices that Riggy G qualifies to hold, which may or may not include a cattle dip manager.

No one quite knows why the former DP had to be forced out. To Ruto’s allies, Riggy G is a tribalist who sought to exclude some of Kenya’s populations. Riggy G has given more reasons for his ouster than UB40 gave for loving their mystery girl.

“I am being persecuted for saying that Uhuru is our son and that he is good,” Riggy G said in not so many words.

Then came the theory that he was targeted for fighting for the Mount Kenya region. More recently, he has claimed he had to go because he was the only truthful man in a government of liars. It doesn’t end there. On Friday, the latest reason was that he was kicked out so the President could execute a plan to split Murima.

Reflecting on his woes, Riggy G has often regretted being used to fight Uhuru, a son of the Mountain. Such worries don’t consume Kimani Ichung’wah’s thoughts.

The National Assembly’s majority leader has been as brutal to Gachagua as he had been to Uhuru. The mheshimiwa for Kikuyu has accused Riggy G of whatever ill comes to mind.

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa. [File, Standard]

He was the choirmaster of the band that labelled Riggy G a tribalist, pushing for his impeachment. Fiercely obedient to Ruto, Ichung’wah has earned names like “Kibaraka”, which the former DP dishes out to Ruto’s allies.

Lately, the Kikuyu MP accuses the former DP of abducting young Kenyans to frame the Head of State. Strangely, Riggy G is a free man despite such grave allegations!

The only plausible explanation is that not that many people take Ichung’wah seriously, not after he claimed the young missing Kenyans had abducted themselves.

“Some lock themselves up in Airbnbs, hide for three days and claim to have been abducted,” Ichung’wah said last week, days before an activist, Ibrahim Ilal Mwiti, who had been missing since last November, was found dead.

The mhesh had previously mocked protesting Gen Zs as Uber-riding and KFC-eating until the afternoon of June 25, 2024, when he and fellow MPs showed that Kenya had 100-metre runners who could challenge Ferdinand Omanyala for the national record.

Before Riggy G, Ichung’wah had Uhuru and Raila for targets. Before the latter two had their properties raided in 2023, Ichung’wah had implied that such raids could happen against planners of anti-government protests.

Times change and the Kikuyu MP is in the same corner as Raila. The enemy of your enemy, it seems, is your friend.

Talking about friends, Raila has new ones, although he prefers not to admit so. The former premier, seeking continental glory, has recently been Ruto’s sidekick.

Former Waziri Moses Kuria once observed that Baba was always “in the warm corner of the opposition.” Indeed, in recent months, the opposition veteran has enjoyed some trappings of this warm corner that Kuria has referred to, deserting allies like former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who might catch a cold from how long he has been in the political Siberia.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, President William Ruto and AUC candidate Raila Odinga at the 4th edition of Piny Luo cultural festival in Bondo, Siaya County on Jan 2, 2025. [PCS]

Raila has been with Ruto on trips abroad and is always close by when the President meets some of the continent’s heads. Of course, it has everything to do with his dreams to lead the African Union Commission.

In this warm corner, Tinga managed to bag five cabinet slots for his allies, nominating them to serve under a man whose legitimacy he questioned after the 2022 polls.

The opposition leader was once adamant that Ruto had “to go” but seems to have mellowed since their handshake last July that wasn’t really a handshake, as Raila insists Words like “President William Ruto” roll easier on his tongue than they did in 2023 when he led anti-government protests.

He may need to convince his allies within the opposition that they are not in government. Many have taken over the Kenya Kwanza house, welcoming other players such as Uhuru and his allies. Some have declared that the opposition would support Ruto “milele na milele”.

If you had guessed that Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi made the “milele na milele” remark, you are right. But it is doubtful that anyone would have predicted his entry into a government that arrested him for merely walking down the streets of Nairobi.

Wandayi, also known as intellectual in some quarters, belonged to a special cadre of critics of the Kenya Kwanza administration. Weeks before he accepted a slice of Ruto’s cake, he had called the State out over the arrest of a blogger who worked in his former National Assembly minority leader’s office.

Like Raila, he did not believe in Ruto’s legitimacy. Wandayi’s views have changed, just like a colleague's, who once thought Ruto to be a liar.

“Ni mkweli sana tena. Mkweli wa kupindukia,” Mining CS Hassan Joho recently told comedian Obina in response to whether he held the same views.

The former Mombasa governor has gone from swearing against working with Ruto to offering himself to defend the Head of State against political attacks. So much so that he dares those who think they have a talent for running their mouths to a duel.

In two years, Treasury CS John Mbadi lost his sense of smell. Once referring to Ruto’s CS nominees as skunks, he, surprisingly, no longer smells the skunks. Being closer to them now, one would think that the smell is stronger.

From the producer of “Hii Imeenda” comes another series – Defending the Government. National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohamed is at it again and this time he is a member of Ruto’s frontline.

The reason for this, as he said last week, is that the President is helping to get Baba to Addis. Ever the optimist, Junet believes Addis is a done deal as Ruto has never lost an election. Perhaps he should try revealing the latter fact to Baba.

Kibwezi West Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse on December 3, 2024. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Mwengi Mutuse. The man, the myth, the legend. Out of countless cowards, the man from Kibwezi West dared to touch Murima, declared out of bounds by the son of Mau Mau. In case you’re joining us from Mars, Mutuse is the stuff of Riggy G’s nightmares.

The first-term MPs stepped forth as colleagues debated who should table Gachagua’s impeachment motion. He would lead the National Assembly to emphatically impeach Riggy G, a decision made for them by their masters.

Had it not been the apparent predetermined outcome at the Senate, Mutuse would have, perhaps, regretted tabling the motion. He sweated from his face and tongue, possibly speaking the most English it had in Mutuse’s life.

Riggy G’s lawyers seemed to have had a singly brief – embarrass the man who had dared to touch the mountain. Embarrass him they did. At some point, they questioned Mutuse’s credentials as a lawyer. After intense grilling, lawyer Elisha Ongoya thought Mutuse might use some moral support.

“It may be getting hotter but look at the document, compose yourself and read,” said Ongoya, who later had to confirm whether he had lost Mutuse.

“Are you still with us?” shot the lawyer.

“Yes, I am still with us,” came the response from a man whose voice, emphatic at the National Assembly, was slightly louder than a whisper.