Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja blamed former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s ally Joe Nyutu for the former DP’s woes, noting that his words and actions catalysed Gachagua’s downfall.
While appearing in a television show on Citizen TV, Karanja spilled the beans, stating that her Murang’a counterpart ignited the flame with his comments during Senate sessions and political gatherings about Mt Kenya’s superiority and Gachagua’s influence in the region.
“He was responsible for the fall of Gachagua with his comments. And I remember knocking on his door and asking him what he was seeking to achieve. I even went to our WhatsApp groups asking what was going on,” Karanja remarked.
According to Karanja, Nyutu’s sentiments fueled the fire of national division that later led to the impeachment of Gachagua. Gachagua was impeached in October 2024 by the Senate with various charges, among them tribalism, levelled against him.
Karanja was seemingly referring to remarks made by Nyutu in early 2024 where the Murang’a Senator called for Gachagua to be sacked and replaced by Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro as Ruto’s running mate in the 2027 general elections.
At the time, Nyutu had launched a scathing attack at Gachagua, describing him as “a liability in the President’s inner circle and unfit to be his running mate in 2027 because of his anti-people and dictatorial behaviour”.
Nyutu’s remarks coincided with Gachagua’s own Mt Kenya discourse during that period, where he aggressively championed for development in the region. The former DP famously referred to Kenya as a company with shareholders (regions), with certain shareholders (Mt Kenya) entitled to a greater allocation of resources by virtue of their contribution to Ruto’s election victory in 2022.
However, Nyutu and Gachagua were later able to mend fences, with the former becoming a staunch ally of the former DP and standing by him during his impeachment motion.
In the aftermath of Gachagua’s impeachment, the Senator became a fierce critic of Ruto’s administration, joining fellow leaders allied to Gachagua in highlighting the government’s inefficiencies.
Recently, Nyutu became a victim of a purge of Gachagua’s allies in powerful Senate committees when he was kicked out of his role as the chair of the Senate Education Committee. This was after Ruto signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Raila Odinga, which saw Raila’s allies get hold of the powerful committees.
This has led to a battle amongst politicians from various regions, with Mt Kenya leaders accusing Ruto of isolating the region from his basket of goodies in his various recent development tours across the country.
Amidst all this, Nyutu, who was also present at the same show, denied being responsible for Gachagua’s impeachment, adding that he changed his view on Gachagua, citing the meeting held with the former DP where the two cleared their differences.
