DP Gachagua fights back, likens MPs opposing him to 'hyenas'

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua led a group of leaders allied to him in criticising 48 MPs from Mt. Kenya who pledged allegiance to Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary (CS) Professor Kithure Kindiki.

Gachagua and his allies likened the legislators to characters in an old Kikuyu tale involving a hyena and a hare.

In the tale, the hyena and the hare agree to beat their wives, but the hare uses drums, leaving the hyena to inflict harm on his wife alone.

"Do you know our hyenas? Do you know them? Do you know them? Now our people, with everything that is going on, is there anything that you do not know?" Gachagua posed at Kabiru-ini grounds in Nyeri during the official opening of the Central Kenya ASK show.

Gachagua's comments came just 48 hours after a 48-member MP delegation in Nyahururu made their position clear on who will lead them in the remaining three years of the Kenya Kwanza government.

The DP further described the leaders as sell-outs he says are driven by greed. He accused them of being used to create divisions within the Mt. Kenya community for personal gain.

"I do not know a lot of things. I am not so clever but I am no fool either. There's is something that I know and when the right time comes I will speak," said the DP.

Legislators allied to Gachagua, in turn, emphasised that their colleagues, had lost direction and did not deserve to be representatives of the people.

"If you see a dog nearby just know that the owner is around..this message is to the owner of the dog. Put a leash on your dog or forget about us. Put a leash on your dog or forget about who?," Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru said, seemingly directing his words at National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah.

Gachagua allies accuse Ichung'wah of reviving the Mt. Kenya supremacy battle.

"Sijui kama sisi tutakuwa hatuna akili timamu tutoke msitu wa fisi tuingie msitu wa chui. Tukuje tu yule mtu anaeza peleka malalamishi yetu bila kufukuzwa tumnyang’anye nguvu yake ya kikatiba ndio tuseme tunapeleka kwa mtu mwingine na sijui kama kuna mtu aliuliza watu wake kabla ya kufanya ule uamuzi," said Kirinyaga Senator James Murango.

President Ruto and his Deputy are expected in Nyeri on Sunday, even as the simmering Mt. Kenya supremacy battle continues. 

The conflict has been attributed to the strained relationship between Gachagua and his boss, who is perceived as being behind the disquiet in the region.