Mt Kenya's political 'soap opera' shouldn't make us to ignore key issues

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki. [File, Standard]

Kenyans are easy to distract. Just three months after the pivotal events of June 25th, political sideshows have completely taken over, and it would appear as if we are back to business as usual with the political class contriving arguments amongst themselves as opposed to hankering down and serving the people. Over the past months or so, the nation has sat back and watched Mount Kenya leaders wrangling amongst themselves over who should have true leadership of the region. Apparently, the people have lost trust in Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and, at the same time, President William Ruto is shutting him out. Last week, a section of Njuri Ncheke leaders declared that their new leader was officially Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki. But really, aren't all these people on the same side?

It is impressive that the citizenry has forgotten that this same charade was played out in the last administration when then Deputy President Ruto began to express discomfort at being sidelined by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The narrative at the time was that the government was running its projects with hardly any input from the deputy president. This narrative, which ran throughout the course of President Kenyatta's second term in office, set the stage for Ruto to set up an entirely new platform and show up on the ballot as a candidate untainted by the legacies of the previous administration. Flash forward to the present day, and Gachagua is setting up the same model, leaving the people to debate whether or not he has the capabilities to take over come 2027. Not only is this conversation premature, it is also narrow minded, taking zero account of the possibilities we can have before us, beyond recycling the same handful of tired politicians.