DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua.
By IP reporter.
NAIROBI, Kenya
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s supporters waited all day Thursday as if Beyoncé, the Pope and Jesus Himself had all promised to land in one chopper.
By 7 a.m., boda bodas had already formed a rumbling convoy, dust swirling like a biblical pillar of cloud. Women waved tree branches not because they were free, but because in politics, twigs are now the official currency of loyalty.
Men wore T-shirts with Riggy G’s face plastered so large it could scare a crow from a mile away.
“Riggy G is our Moses,” declared a supporter, balancing on a plastic chair that looked like it had retired ten years ago. “He will part the political Red Sea and lead us to Canaan. Even if Canaan only has unga and secondhand gumboots.”
Vendors made a killing. Mandazi went for double price.
Roasted maize was finished by 9 a.m. One enterprising hawker sold gumboots labeled ‘Wetang’ula Edition’ a cheeky jab at Bungoma’s muddy funerals where Ford Kenya MPs turned up in rubber boots.
The songs? A remix of gospel choruses: “Ndio Riggy, Baba wetu, akisema tunasikia!” (Yes Riggy, our father, when you speak we obey!) The only thing missing was a live band and smoke machines.
But beneath the carnival, tension simmered. Supporters whispered about possible arrest warrants.
After all, in Kenya, a political rally can turn into a police recruitment drive within minutes.
“They think they can arrest him, but let them try,” shouted one youth. “Even handcuffs will fear Riggy G.”
Analysts say Gachagua is milking his martyr image. Having fallen out with President Ruto, he now paints himself as the mountain’s loudest prophet, the man who tells off Nairobi elites while chewing sugarcane in Nyeri.
And judging by the crowd, the script is working.
By mid-afternoon people were still waiting, sweating, singing and chanting.
“It doesn’t matter if he arrives at 6 p.m. or midnight,” one woman said. “For us, waiting is worship.”
And so they waited, turning what should have been a rally into a full-day festival — half political crusade, half comedy show.
Whether Riggy G showed up with fire, fury, or just a cough didn’t matter anymore. The people had already crowned him king.
Ends.
