The race to tame Kenya Kwanza deputy presidential candidate Rigathi Gachagu’s tongue is on ahead of his epic clash with Martha Karua later on in the evening.
Reports indicate that the Kenya Kwanza brigade is leaving nothing to chance and has invested in experts to help him prepare for the big moment when he will take of Karua in the Deputy Presidential Debate.
The preparation comes amid concerns from a section of Kenya Kwanza luminaries that Gachagua’s tongue could be a great undoing for William Ruto.
“We are deeply concerned by Gachagua’s remarks and if he is not tamed, he will weaken the coalition and cost us votes.
“Since he was nominated, he has been making careless remarks, we have compiled all the remarks and we will be tabling them in our meeting with other principals,” Former PS and Farmers Party Chair Irungu Nyakera confirmed in May.
And today, with the whole country watching, there will be no room for controversial statements that may put Ruto’s possible win in jeopardy.
Gachagua has been on the spot for controversial statements including assuring his supporters that as soon as Kenya Kwanza wins elections, he will have is assets unfrozen and build a huge house where women can troop in all day to drink porridge.
Today, he will have to be on point and articulate the Kenya Kwanza agenda in a bid to win votes.
From statements such as: “Let us slaughter 35 bulls and cook copius amounts of rice to go with the beef. Our people don’t want anything else. This is what used to happen during the Moi era.
A few days later, Gachagua was at it again giving handouts to his friend, a rugged villager who interrupted Gachagua’s speech.
To: “Kenya Kwanza will grow the enterprises of small business people who constitute the majority instead of having giant corporates like Safaricom paying taxes, you can have such a company’s investment and create many smaller companies that will pay taxes.
“Their impact will be 30 times more than from just one big corporate. So we are not chasing big corporates. We are saying that even small and medium investors be taken care of,” Gachagua said in an interview with Inooro FM.
Anything that may paint him as a biased leader as was the case when he made his stand on independent candidates known and roping in Kenya Defence Forces recruitment to lure voters with the video going viral will be undesirable.
A video that went viral surfaced showing Gachagua telling his supporters that they should only vote UDA candidates as he will not engage any MP elected as an independent candidate should Kenya Kwanza form the government after the August 9 General Election.
To make the deal even sweeter, the lawmaker added areas that will vote UDA contestants will have an upper hand in the recruitment of officers to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
“I want to advise you, if you want to benefit from our government, elect UDA contenders. UDA MPs will be coming to my office pick letters so that youths in their constituencies can join the military. If you pick independent candidates, how will they access me? I won’t have any business with them,” Gachagua said.
Next on the firing line were the police uniforms which he likened to the Women’s guild uniform and attracted the wrath of the clergy.
“Mumesumbuliwa sana na Matiang’i na Kibicho. Ata ile uniform ya blue ambayo hawataki, tutawaondolea tuwarudishie ile ya Kitambo. Hiyo ya blue tutarudishia kanisa ya PCEA. Hiyo ni uniform ya women’s guild.
“(You have gone through a lot at the hands of Matiang’i and Kibicho. We will change the blue uniform that our officers do not want and revert to the previous one. We will return the blue one to PCEA church. It is the uniform for the women’s guild),” he said at a Kenya Kwanza county economic forum in Nyandarua on Saturday, June 11.
