With the writing on the wall for Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the debate on his successor has gone a notch higher in case he is impeached.
On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the second in command suffered a blow after Justice Chacha Mwita of the High Court declined to stop Gachagua’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
With the die seemingly cast for the “truthful man”, several names have been floated as possible replacements for him.
Among those tipped to replace the man from the mountain include Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Governors Anne Waiguru(Kirinyaga), Cecily Mbarire(Embu) and Gladys Wanga(Homa Bay).
Waiguru, whose political star has been shining in the recent past, seems to be the frontrunner in the race for women.
On Tuesday, hundreds of women from Kirinyaga asked President William Ruto to reciprocate their support by appointing Waiguru as the deputy president.
Speaking in Kutus town, the women who included community leaders drawn from all the 20 wards said Kenya is now ripe for a woman deputy president, terming Waiguru a sure bet for the position.
They asked President Ruto to return the DP position to Mt Kenya region and this time give it to a woman in keeping with his promise of having a female running mate in future.
“As residents of the Mountain and Kirinyaga, we fully supported President Ruto in 2022 and we are asking him that should that opportunity arise, he should reciprocate our support by giving us Waiguru as the Deputy President” said Mary Nyawira.
She said that Waiguru has a proven track record in transformational leadership as seen in Kirinyaga where she has supported thousands of households to implement economic empowerment programs that have uplifted the lives of county residents.
“If that opportunity comes, we know that governor Anne Waiguru has what it takes to lead the country into greater prosperity. If she has done it Kirinyaga, she can as well do it in the entire country. We are also confident that she can uplift the lives of women and children in the whole country” added Nyawira.
“We have our backup plan which is Governor Anne Waiguru, whose track record has been exceptional. As a county, we have reaped the best from devolution courtesy of Governor Waiguru. We don’t want just a woman, but we want a woman who can deliver. That woman is Waiguru and we are giving her to Kenyans,” said Khadija Wanjiru.
According to Wanjiru, Waiguru has turned Kirinyaga into a benchmark for other counties in terms of development and has given life to Ruto’s Bottom Up Economic Transform Agenda at the grassroots.
“Kirinyaga has the best female candidate and we are appealing to you to take her as your deputy and we assure you she will not put us to shame. Waiguru is a worker, she has a national vision and does not discriminate,” said Wakio.
On Monday, groups of women in Murang’a and Nairobi counties called on the president to appoint Waiguru hailing her as the best-suited candidate who has a national outlook and comes with experience needed to take the country forward. They termed her as a leader who is not concerned about tribal affiliations but rather interested in service delivery to the people.
Even before the process to impeach Rigathi commenced, governor Waiguru had already started getting endorsements to run for the DP position in 2027. In a recent G7 Strategy activation in Kirinyaga, more than 30 leaders from across the country hailed the governor as best best-suited candidate to take the mantle of DP given that she had already shuttered the glass ceiling both at the national and county levels.
Leaders including governors, members of parliament, members of various county assemblies as well as Idah Odinga, wife of former Prime Minster showered praises on her as a progressive leader and a woman of many firsts whose development record both at the National and county government is outstanding.
The two-term governor had served as a Cabinet Secretary before joining politics in 2017. She also became the first woman to Chair the Council of Governors. At the National level, she will be remembered for having transformed public service delivery through initiatives such as Huduma Centers, Integrated Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO)
At the county level, she became the first governor to come up with a development sessional paper, ‘The Mountain Cities Blueprint 2032’ which guides the implementation of Kirinyaga’s development agenda.
