Kenya is another very important country. Some time ago, followed their tumultuous political history via the Kenyan media, and latest developments as commented on by makozewe and through some fiery analysis by the now early departed Martin Ngatia
RIGATHI GACHAGUA'S CITIZEN TV INTERVIEW: THE FALSE SAINT ATTEMPTING TO WHITEWASH HIS PAST
Rigathi Gachagua's appearance on Citizen TV after returning from his chaotic tour of the United States was nothing short of political theatre—an exercise in self-exoneration staged by a man who knows his time at the helm of Kenya's ruling bloc is slipping away. Speaking with rehearsed indignation, Gachagua portrayed himself as a victim of President William Ruto's "high-handedness," claiming assassination plots, bribery in Parliament, and systematic exclusion from the state apparatus. Yet, beneath the veneer of a repentant statesman lies the same political operator who, when in government, openly declared Kenya to be a company of "shareholders," reducing the nation to a corporate boardroom where those who voted for Ruto were the only legitimate beneficiaries.
But what is the truth? Gachagua is not an innocent casualty of intra-elite feuds; he is a consummate representative of Kenya's comprador bourgeoisie—a capitalist class whose existence depends on tribal manipulation, looting state resources, and violently repressing the working class and the oppressed. His Citizen TV performance was an attempt to recast himself as a saintly reformer, but history betrays him. When protesters rose against the rigged 2022 election and punitive taxes, Gachagua personally supervised their repression and murder, reporting to work at 5 a.m. to later congratulate police for "a job well done" after blood was spilt on the streets. Such a figure cannot feign moral authority; his hands are stained with the blood of the youth.
THE MYTH OF VICTIMHOOD: A BOURGEOIS RIVALRY DISGUISED AS MARTYRDOM
Gachagua's narrative of persecution—that Ruto's government has attacked him seven times, disrupted his convoys, and seeks to eliminate him—is not a struggle for democracy. It is an intra-bourgeois conflict, the natural outgrowth of a decaying capitalist state where rival factions of the elite cannibalize one another in the scramble for power. In his Citizen TV interview, Gachagua lamented that MPs and senators were bribed with Ksh. 500,000 to Ksh. 10 million to vote as instructed by Ruto. While his allegations contain some truth, they are not the revelations of a revolutionary whistleblower. Instead, they are the bitter complaints of a man who once benefited from the same corrupt machinery but is now locked out of the feast.
Facts and figures confirm that bribery is systemic in Kenya. Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Kenya 126th out of 180 countries, with a score of just 31/100. Parliamentary votes have long been commodified, with "brown envelopes" forming part of the institutional culture of the capitalist state. That Gachagua now points fingers at Ruto is not a sign of transformation but of desperation. He is less concerned about the people's suffering than about his exclusion from the spoils of office. His cries of betrayal are the cries of a dispossessed bourgeois rival, not of a principled fighter for justice.
TRIBAL BIGOTRY IN DIASPORA: US TOUR WAS TO BOLSTER ETHNIC WARLORDISM
Gachagua's American tour revealed the very contradictions he sought to bury. He attempted to paint a picture of inclusivity, claiming he had met Kenyans from all communities abroad. Yet reports from the diaspora indicate that he disproportionately courted Kikuyu organizations, reinforcing his image as a tribal warlord rather than a national leader. Several Kenyans abroad openly confronted him over his tribal politics, and he had no coherent answers. This hypocrisy is glaring. For years, Gachagua was the chief architect of Mount Kenya chauvinism, telling the country that Kenya is a company where shareholders are the Kikuyu who voted for Ruto. Now, after his fallout with Ruto, he wants to erase that stain with empty proclamations of unity.
From an ideological perspective, tribalism is not a perversion but a deliberate tool of Kenya's ruling class. Leaders like Gachagua weaponize ethnic identity to fracture the working class and hopeless unemployed youths, preventing them from uniting against capitalist exploitation. His diaspora meetings were not about unity but about consolidating tribal patronage abroad. The fact that he failed to provide clear responses when challenged only exposes that his "new leaf" is a masquerade covering the same rotten politics of exclusion.
THE REAL FACE OF GACHAGUA: A CORRUPT BOURGEOIS WITHOUT A CAUSE
At the core, Gachagua remains what he has always been: a corrupt member of Kenya's ruling elite. His personal wealth, accumulated through shadowy deals during his tenure as a public servant and later as a politician, has been the subject of multiple investigations. His sudden regret for supporting Ruto is not an ideological awakening, but rather a case of political opportunism. It is important to recall that Gachagua did not hesitate to unleash state terror when it served his interests. He cannot now rebrand himself as a defender of democracy simply because he has been sidelined.
The logic of capitalism ensures that men like Gachagua rise to prominence. They thrive in systems of patronage, manipulate ethnic sentiment, and use state machinery for personal enrichment. Once displaced, they cry foul—not on behalf of the millions of starving Kenyans but as spurned shareholders in Kenya Incorp. His interview was a confession, not of guilt, but of bitterness. He correctly blamed Ruto for corruption, exclusion, and violence, but forgot that he himself had been the willing executor of those very crimes during his own tenure in office.
GACHAGUA IS NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION: HE IS PART OF THE PROBLEM
Rigathi Gachagua's Citizen TV interview was not a moment of truth, but rather a moment of reinvention. He presented himself as a victim, but history records him as an enforcer of the capitalist state's brutality. He denounced corruption, yet he embodies it. He claimed to embrace unity, yet his politics is steeped in tribalism. He expressed regret, yet only because his capitalist rival has outmanoeuvred him.
Strictly, Gachagua is not part of the solution—he is part of the problem. He represents the rot of Kenya's comprador bourgeoisie: parasitic, tribal, corrupt, and violent. Workers, peasants, and youth must see through this theatre of rival elites. Neither Ruto nor Gachagua holds the key to liberation. The only genuine solution lies in building an all-inclusive alternative—an organized movement of the working masses, unemployed youths and all oppressed layers in Kenya to seize power from the capitalist class and dismantle the structures of exploitation. Until then, Gachagua's "repentance" remains what it is: the lament of a dislodged looter who has nothing to offer Kenya's oppressed majority.
Okoth Osewe
·
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/924dc452-50aa-4f6a-8e88-2b20f9728ca5n%40googlegroups.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment