Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s announcement that he will lead the push for one man one shilling one vote revenue sharing formula is among other statements that he has alluded to that indicates he could be on a way of establishing his own political base.
The proposal for the revenue sharing formula based on population has been a thorn in the flesh in the populous Mt Kenya region and attempts in the past to push for the formula have been opposed by other leaders and other communities who claim the formula may end up suppressing their region.
In the run up for the 2022 general election, the debate was rife as was introduced by former President Uhuru Kenyatta who said wanted to gift his community with resources through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Amendment Bill that proposed for the revenue sharing formula, the introduction of the office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the Opposition.
But President William Ruto, then Deputy, and his team including Gachagua dismissed the bill as a strategy for Uhuru to cling on to power and a self-seeking proposal that ‘would have led to a bloated wage bill’ saying his Kenya Kwanza coalition was rooting for ways in which the economy would be revived.
After the BBI bill was declared null and void, Uhuru on December 12, 2022 said ‘it was a dream deferred’ assuring that the shelved document would resurface ‘to help mend the cracks in our nation’
And despite Gachagua opposing the BBI document in 2022, he has now declared himself a proponent and a believer of one-man-one-vote-one-shilling revenue sharing mantra and said the formula is a development agenda that must be pursued for the region to get an equitable share of the shareable allocation.
“The whole issue of resources is about the people. The more you are, the more taxes you pay. It goes without saying, the more taxes you pay, the more you should get,” said Gachagua.
He added “We have no apologies to make. We want equality and equity. We want fairness in sharing of revenue. We will be pushing that agenda not because we come from a region that has a high population but because it is the right thing to do,” he added.
“It cannot be that Ruiru constituency with a population of 800,000 people will get the same amount in Constituency Development Fund as a constituency with 14,000, it’s not fair,” he said. Gachagua said on Sunday at ACK St Peters Church in Mbeere, Embu County on Sunday.
His remarks bring him closer to his political arch rivals Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua and Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni who are planning for the Limuru III meeting on May 17 and who have listed the agenda of the revenue sharing formula and boundary review as part of the agendas. Gachagua and the two leaders have been diametrically opposed like day and night.
This is not the first time for ‘Gachagua’s Damascus moments’. In March this year, he sought apology from Mama Ngina Kenyatta over the political excesses meted on her by the Kenya Kwanza team in 2022 electioneering period saying “I am sorry for involving Mama Ngina Kenyatta in the last general elections politics. She is our mother. I therefore ask for forgiveness on behalf of our team for any inconvenience caused to her. I will never allow anyone to demean her or anyone from the region,” Gachagua told Kameme TV.
He went on and said he had directed all leaders from Mt Kenya region not to peddle insults against former President Uhuru Kenyatta saying he was ready to reunite with him.
“The former President Uhuru Kenyatta is our son. We worked together for 17 years and only disagreed for 2 years and now that’s the past. I pray for him in his retirement. Uhuru is one of us. We shall talk with everyone,” he said.
The Deputy President, two months ago, met with delegations from the traders from Nairobi Business Community who hail from Mt Kenya region over the effects of the Finance Bill 2023 that saw over 700 containers detained in Mombasa over the taxes that the traderds termed ‘punitive to Mt Kenya region.
In the same month, Gachagua met with a section of stakeholders in the avocado value chain who cried foul due to the introduction of the electronic Tax Invoice Management System (e-TIMS) that farmers were supposed to enjoin before selling their agricultural produce to processors.
Prior to his meetings with the aggrieved parties, Gachagua had admitted that the government would relook into the Finance Act promising farmers that they would conduct a comprehensive review of taxes proposed in the Act.
“On the the issue of taxes that was passed by Parliament we have realized it has some mistakes as it seeks to levy agricultural farmers. I have talked to the President and the Cs for Treasury and we shall talk to our MPs. We can’t help our farmer with one hand while we oppress him on the other. Our government is the one that listens and cares for the farmers,” Gachagua said in Embu on February 29.
He added ‘We will conduct a comprehensive review of taxes to address the issues raised and promote a fair agricultural environment.’
The many remarks by Gachagua, political pundits believe that the Deputy President has ‘listened to the ground’ and is speaking the minds of the Mt Kenya region without ‘fear or favour’.
Although the pundits believe that his remarks may put him at loggerheads with his boss, they opine that being on the side of the electorate will earn him a ‘place in the electorates’ hearts.
According to Barrack Muluka, Gachagua’s Damascus moment could have been informed by the interests of his people and not by the political position he is currently holding.
“Political positions will not be permanent, what will be permanent will be the interests and interests is power; either exercising it yourself or being part of it. Gachagua could have gone to a point where he feels his boss is marginalizing him by having some other people to compete against him,” he said.
According to Muluka Gachagua may have found the right campaign issue, the one man one shilling one vote, that Muluka opines that the issue can be used to galvanize the region to appeal to the masses.
“If Ruto starts to think that he should have Mudavadi as his running mate, and tries to use the African Union (AU) post as his bargaining chip for Nyanza and Western Gachagua will ultimately not follow him and we might see his name in the Presidential ballot in 2027,” averred Muluka.
He added ‘By the time us pundits start to see the fault lines, the tectonic plates have shifted significantly and they could be exchanging nasty things when they meet.’
On his part, Prof Gitile Naituli believed Gachagua was following his people and may have read Ruto’s political manual book to endear himself to the masses.
“He is doing what his boss did in the former regime, rallying his people against the punitive taxes and introducing what his people want to hear; the debate on the revenue sharing formula,” he said.
While Gachagua has been gaining loyalty from the elected leaders from Mt Kenya region, a section of the leaders led by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri who are said to be supporters of the President have avoided Gachagua’s meetings in Mt Kenya region.
Kiunjuri has gone a notch higher to oppose Gachagua’s call for unity meetings claiming that could isolate the Agikuyu community from the rest of the communities in Kenya.
“Some government leaders holding high positions and we know them by their names and their behaviors at night they are lighting fires against the President, by uniting some other Agikuyu community members to claim how their community has been suppressed but during the day they claim to be together,” Kiunjuri said.
“We can’t allow anybody to cause division between us the current government because it is the government. We should not have been seen as antagonizing the government for everything. Even if you plant a tree seedling you can’t expect to give you a shadow in a year, you should nature and water that tree. You can’t be the one supposed to water the tree but you close the drip of the water and start complaining that the tree is not getting water,” he said in direct reference to the Deputy President, he added.