DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua…Photo/courtesy
By IP Reporter
NAIROBI, Kenya (IP)
Is Rigathi Gachagua running a savings and credit cooperative society for Kikuyus only, or a political party meant to unite a country?
That’s the question swirling after his Democratic Congress Party (DCP) was left reeling from a series of embarrassing setbacks.
This week, the Banisa parliamentary by-election turned into a political comedy when DCP’s candidate, Adan Mohammed abandoned the race shortly after a courtesy call at State House.
By the time photos of him beaming next to President William Ruto hit the internet, the DCP ticket was already in the dustbin.
The Banisa debacle underscored what critics say is DCP’s biggest problem: it can’t seem to operate outside Mt. Kenya.
Instead of fielding its own contenders, the party has been hitchhiking on other outfits — backing the former AG Justin Muturi’s DP in Embu, supporting DAPK candidates in Malava and Chwele/Kabuchai and clinging to regional deals that make it look more like a Kikuyu lobby group than a national force.
Meanwhile, Gachagua has been busy addressing Mt. Kenya audiences in the United States — sometimes even in Kikuyu — as though the diaspora were another sub-county of Nyeri.
Observers say the DCP leader’s obsession isn’t with building national unity but proving to Ruto that he alone holds the keys to the Kikuyu vote.
For now, the so-called mountain party looks firmly stuck in its high-altitude comfort zone, still shouting from the ridges and failing to plant roots anywhere else.
For Kenyans beyond Mt. Kenya, the yawns are louder than the slogans.
