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Kagwanja faults Ruto allies for branding Gachagua tribal
29th July, 2025 09:43 AM
Political analyst Prof Peter Kagwanja has subtly criticised allies of President William Ruto for calling former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua a tribal leader.
Speaking during a local TV interview on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, Kagwanja said it is not fair to label leaders as tribal just because they hold a different opinion.
He pointed out that in the 2022 general election, the Mt Kenya region gave President Ruto 47 per cent of their votes, yet no one called them tribal at that time. He said it is wrong to change the way people are judged depending on whether they support or oppose a leader.
“In 2022, no one accused the Kikuyu community of being tribal when they gave 47 per cent of their votes to the current president. It is unfair to label people as tribal only when they do not support you and call them nationalists when they do,” Kagwanja stated.
Rigathi Gachagua’s rising political star
He defended Gachagua, saying the former deputy president’s political journey is not going down as some people are claiming. Instead, he said Gachagua is becoming stronger.
“Gachagua is not falling in his political career. He was already at a low point, and now he is rising,” he added.
Kagwanja also asked leaders to be honest and respectful when talking about others in public. He said politics should not be used to divide Kenyans along ethnic lines.
His comments come at a time when there is growing tension within the ruling party over 2027 succession politics. Some leaders close to President Ruto have been criticising Gachagua’s recent calls to unite the Mount Kenya region.
However, other leaders like Kagwanja believe that Gachagua has the right to speak on matters affecting his region, just like any other national leader.
Currently, the former second in command is on a month-long political tour in the US, where he has been engaging the diaspora to preach the ‘Wantam’ gospel. At one point, Gachagua got confronted by a young lady who asked him to cast his net beyond the Mt Kenya region.
