In the deputy presidential debate 2022 pitting Martha Karua versus Rigathi Gachagua, the latter came across as incoherent and petty when he proclaimed he is a teetotaler.
Among Gachagua’s wild utterances on police reforms include the shocking proclamation that the role of police, under a UDA reign, will be to escort drunks home.
William Ruto’s 2022 presidential running mate painted himself as a crusader of booze, amplified by the company he keeps in Kenya Kwanza Alliance, led by Moses Kuria, Susan Kihika, and Justin Muturi. His declaration backfired.
Historically, teetotalers have proved to be troublesome, suspend reasoning and exercise bad judgment when the country needs them most.
The second President of Kenya, late President Daniel Moi, did not take alcohol. As a mentor to both William Ruto and Rigathi Gachagua, Kenyans recall how badly Moi mismanaged the economy through corruption.
Theft of public resources and dictatorship are two attributes the duo borrowed heavily from Moi.
Apart from Moi, other renowned teetotalers at the helm of their respective nation-states include Jim Murphy of the Scottish Labour Party, David Lloyd George, former UK Prime Minister, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Idi Amin of Uganda, and Donald Trump the 45th President of the United State of America.
Looking at some of these teetotalers, there is some resemblance in character and signs of what might befall Kenya in an unlikely Ruto-Gachagua presidency.
The mere mention of Adolf Hitler sends chills down the spine due to the holocaust he orchestrated against European Jews during World War 11 in Germany. Also known as Shoah, the ethnic cleansing led to the deaths of over 6 million Jews. As DO in the 90s, Gachagua oversaw the killing of Kikuyus, mostly in the Rift Valley, as opposed to Moi’s iron-fist junta.
Donald Trump left the Oval Office on January 20th, 2021 with a tainted legacy following mass protests and a forceful storming of the Capitol that badly besmirched America’s democracy status.
When the Kenya government was keen to streamline the boda boda sector to weed out crooks, Gachagua and his principal incited the youths to storm police stations and free impounded motorbikes whose owners had flouted traffic rules.
Donald Trump demonized the media in the same tune Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua’s faction is doing.
Both Lloyd George (Liberty Party) UK’s Prime Minister from 1916-1922 and Jim Murphy the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland saw the decline in the influence of their respective parties and this catalyzed their downfall.
Self-glorified teetotaler Gachagua is following suit. He has trivialized fringe parties in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, which has seen the fortunes of the parties dwindle.
This and his loose mouth are reasons the coalition will not clinch power.
Gachagua, just like premier Lloyd George, who was involved in the Marconi Scandal, has countless graft cases mostly from swindling Kwale, Bungoma, and Nyeri county governments especially when his brother, Nderitu Gachagua, was Nyeri governor.
In the Marconi Scandal, Lloyd George used his influence as Chancellor of the Exchequer to access information regarding the government’s intention to issue a lucrative contract to the British firm Marconi for the development of the telegraph.
George and his clique bought the lion’s share of the company in an American subsidiary, thereby making profits through the business with the government which is an outright conflict of interest and amounted to corruption.
Gachagua is our version of Lloyd George. In the advent of devolution, he went to bed with county leaders, won tenders at exorbitant quotations, and delivered below standards, thus making crazy profits out of taxpayers’ money. Interestingly, his cronies are now in Kenya Kwanza.
Gachagua should be obstructed through the ballot from occupying the Karen residence. He has shown all signals of malevolent dictatorship and 20 years after his political father, Moi’s exit, Kenya isn’t ready for a repeat.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against teetotalism but history is our yardstick against future kings. One needs those fine sips to reinvigorate spirits once in a while. Spirits are used very advisedly here.
The writer is Hillary Njoroge, a commentator on social and political issues. The views expressed here are his and do not in any way represent the official position of Kivumbi.co.ke, its owners, and/or editors.
Send your well-written opinion to [email protected] and our editor shall consider it for publication.
