Former Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday declared the end of an era for the Orange Democratic Movement in the capital’s cutthroat politics.
Speaking at a thanksgiving service for his Democracy for Citizens Party recent by-election win, Gachagua painted a bold vision of his upstart outfit, allied with veteran politician Kalonzo Musyoka Wiper party, storming Nairobi’s 2027 polls like a matatu convoy through rush-hour traffic.
“This is the party of Nairobi, and we have a plan going forward,” Gachagua boomed to cheers at P.C.E.A. Kariobangi North Berea Parish Church, his voice gravelly from months of stump speeches since his dramatic ouster from government last year.
The event marked victory laps for DCP MCA-elect David Wanyoike Warui, who clinched the Kariobangi North ward seat with 2,282 votes — a gritty upset against both ruling United Democratic Alliance and ODM challengers.
Coalition pact with Wiper
Gachagua, ever the showman in his signature red cap, didn’t mince words on the power-sharing pact with Wiper. “We have an agreement with the Wiper leader, who has been helping ODM in Nairobi,” he said, a sly grin betraying the jab at his former Azimio coalition rivals.
Under the deal, DCP eyes the governor’s mansion, the senate seat, and woman representative post, while the duo aims to snag 16 of 17 parliamentary seats and a whopping 75 of 85 ward slots. “The ballot doesn’t hear noise,” one churchgoer quipped later, but Gachagua’s roar suggested otherwise.
By-election analysis
The timing couldn’t be sharper. Just days after 27 November by-elections, where UDA and ODM flexed their muscles — UDA grabbing Baringo Senate and seats in Banisa, Mbeere North, and Malava; ODM holding Ugunja, Kasipul, and Magarini — Gachagua shrugged off a narrow loss in Mbeere. “In Kariobangi, we beat UDA, which came fourth; in Narok, we beat UDA; in Kisa East, we beat UDA and ODM,” he tallied, brushing aside whispers of rigging in Embu. For a seven-month-old party, three ward wins feel like a manifesto in motion.
Challenges ahead
Yet, the former deputy — impeached in October 2024 amid corruption probes he calls “political voodoo” — knows the road ahead is potholed. ODM grip on Nairobi remains ironclad: Senate whip Edwin Sifuna and woman rep Esther Passaris hold sway, while UDA Johnson Sakaja mans City Hall. Gachagua’s pitch? Reclaim the “Gachagua votes” that propelled President William Ruto here in 2022.
“All the votes Ruto got in Nairobi were courtesy of Gachagua, and they’ve moved to DCP,” he claimed, accusing Kenya Kwanza of “bribery and goons” that could backfire in Mount Kenya heartlands.
Opposition response
Critics, including ODM firebrands, scoff at the Wiper-DCP bromance as opportunistic horse-trading. “Kalonzo saved ODM before; now he’s flipping the script?” one X user posted, echoing online buzz. Gachagua United Opposition coalition, stitched with Wiper and others, vows a 2027 upset against Ruto, but recent polls show DCP national reach still embryonic.
As congregants filed out into Nairobi’s hazy afternoon, Gachagua lingered, shaking hands like a man who smells victory — or at least a good fight. In Kenya’s kaleidoscopic politics, where alliances shift faster than weather, his words land like a gauntlet. ODM reign? Over, he insists. But Nairobi’s voters, ever pragmatic, will have the final say.
