I Warned Ruto About Touching The Mountain, Now He Is Unhappy: Gachagua

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua now believes that President William Ruto is displaying foul behaviour towards the Mt Kenya region because of how they responded to Gachagua's impeachment last year, citing the recent criticism by the Head of State for allegedly dividing Kenyans along ethnic lines.

Addressing the congregation at NARC Kenya party leader Martha Karua’s home in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County, on Saturday, January 25, Gachagua dismissed Ruto's claims, stating that he supported the latter despite being from a different tribe.

The former DP who spoke during his reconciliatory meeting with the former Azimio principal claimed that it was an insult to the Kikuyu community for the president to publicly accuse him of being tribal.

President William Ruto speaking during the groundbreaking of the Alupe Dam Water Supply Project on January 23, 2025. /PCS

“I, Rigathi Gachagua, am not tribal because I supported President William Ruto, and he is not a Kikuyu. 87 per cent of the people of Mykinsmen voted for him, knowing very well he is not a Kikuyu,” Gachagua claimed, adding "It is insulting for the Mt Kenya region for President Ruto to go round in meetings calling us tribal."

Gachagua went on to claim that Ruto was venting his frustrations towards him in Western Kenya out of disappointment that he was fast losing ground in the vote-rich region, two years to 2027.

The impeached DP added that he advised the Head of State against backstabbing the residents of the Mt Kenya region given that he had rallied them to support him in 2022.

"We know he is unhappy, frustrated and bitter that our people have left him but we are not the ones that rejected him. I personally told him not to touch the mountain but he did. I told him the people of the mountain don’t like betrayal, he betrayed us. I told him that the people hate deception, and he deceived us. This problem is his own making," he added.

Gachagua was responding to Ruto over the remarks he made in Vihiga on Wednesday, where he criticised the former DP for being incompetent, tribal, and corrupt.

"There are people who are attempting to lead us into hateful and tribal politics that is meant to divide Kenyans. There are people we gave jobs, but because they are clueless and corrupt, they sunk and will continue sinking," Ruto said.

Meanwhile, Gachagua's sentiments were echoed by Martha Karua, who also took a swipe at President Ruto, accusing him of being a dictator and contravening the Constitution by allegedly orchestrating abductions.

Karua, who has been vocal against the Ruto regime since the 2022 general elections, called for his resignation arguing that he had failed to do the job Kenyans had given him to do.

"When you are given an opportunity for leadership in Kenya, that is not a title deed. Kenya doesn't belong to you, it belongs to all of us. You cannot start doing things that are not in the Constitution. We will say 'no' because sovereignty belongs to the people," Karua said.

"Ruto should remember that he was fired from his job in June last year. Once the people reject you, resign and go home. We have seen people resigning all over the world. There is nothing special about Ruto."

She vowed to mobilise Kenyans to block any efforts by Ruto to manifest into a dictator and that Kenyans would kick him out using ways in adherence to the 2010 Kenyan Constitution...including during the 2027 general elections.