Gachagua’s party storms Kikuyu from afar as 2027 countdown begins

With their leader still in the United States, Democracy for the Citizens Party takes its ground offensive into the heart of Kiambu — and Senator Methu’s warning to Ichung’wah is as blunt as it gets

By James Mwangi

Democracy for the Citizens Party has launched a bold ground offensive in Kikuyu Constituency, Kiambu County, with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua declaring the seat fair game even as he directed operations remotely from the United States.

The incursion into Kikuyu — home turf of National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah — was led on the ground by DCP Secretary-General and Nyandarua Senator John Methu, while Gachagua fired his political shots from abroad via social media. “Kikuyu Constituency is not anyone’s personal property — it belongs to the people,” Gachagua posted, in a pointed message aimed squarely at those who assume the seat is already settled. “They have every right to make their own decision, free from coercion or intimidation.”

Methu was considerably less diplomatic. Addressing Ichung’wah directly after the Kikuyu visit, the senator issued a stark warning: “Next time, pick on people your own age. I will crush you completely. Those people you paid have taken your money and run.” The broadside signals that DCP intends to contest Kikuyu not merely symbolically but to win — and that its leaders are prepared for a bruising fight with one of Kenya Kwanza’s most prominent parliamentary voices.

Methu has previously argued that Mount Kenya suffered politically in 2022 by entering the Ruto alliance without its own party vehicle. “We as Mt Kenya have faced many challenges because we went to Ruto without our political party, but now we have our own political party, which is DCP,” he said. Kikuyu Constituency is where that argument is being tested most directly — on Ichung’wah’s own ground, with 315 days to go before August 2027.

Gachagua’s ability to mobilise crowds in contested territory while thousands of kilometres away speaks to a political operation hitting its stride early — and to a Mount Kenya landscape that remains deeply, dangerously unsettled. The battle for Kikuyu has begun, and neither side is pretending otherwise.

Some of the moments as captured in pictures

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