By Edwin Kuria
While President William Ruto continues to make deliberate strides toward national unity and economic revitalization, his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, has emerged as a force pulling in the opposite direction. Rather than championing the collective aspirations of Kenyans.
Gachagua has chosen to stoke ethnic tensions and exploit Kikuyu grievances for his own narrow political ambitions.It is both alarming and disheartening to see a leader of his stature, and who had been entrusted with such a high office, sow seeds of division in a country that has fought hard to heal from historical wounds.
Gachagua’s tribal rhetoric, often thinly veiled as community advocacy, serves no one but himself. By painting national challenges as Kikuyu-specific problems, he undermines the very spirit of inclusivity and unity that Kenyans overwhelmingly voted for in 2022.
The former Deputy President’s narrative presents the Kikuyu community as politically alienated, economically targeted, and culturally cornered — a dangerous mischaracterization that fans fear and resentment, not hope or progress. This form of identity politics, if left unchecked, threatens to fracture not just Mt. Kenya, but the entire nation.
What Gachagua fails to acknowledge is that the problems facing the Kikuyu are not unique to them — joblessness, high cost of living, and political disillusionment are Kenyan problems. Instead of rallying the country toward shared solutions, he’s leveraging regional frustrations as bargaining chips in his personal power play.
This is not leadership. It is manipulation.Mt. Kenya — Mlima — deserves better.
It deserves a leader who can speak truth to power without undermining the nation. It deserves a representative who fights for prosperity, not paranoia. And it certainly deserves someone who will protect its legacy, not tarnish it with parochialism and self-interest.
At Kumi Bila Break (KBB), we stand for a united Kenya. A Kenya where ethnicity is a point of pride, not a political weapon.
A Kenya where leadership is defined by vision, integrity, and service to all.Rigathi Gachagua’s current trajectory is not just an affront to national unity — it is a betrayal of the very people he claims to represent. It is time we call him what he has become: an enemy of Mlima.
Edwin Kuria is the Chairman of the Kumi Bila Break (KBB) movement.