It is as if the former Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, never moved an inch. While one moment he was Deputy President and the next he was not, the man from Nyeri has remained on the nation’s radar hogging as much limelight as he could.

This Sunday, he would be in this church, the following Sunday, a different one. Today, he would be addressing media from one region, the next day from a different region. This time, he would be addressing an electronic baraza and next he would be having a different town hall in a different location. You would be hard put if you lived in Kenya to avoid listening to him.

But what is his content and message? They have not changed much since he left the office, just as they did not change much when he was in it. While in office, he was locked into defending what he called the shareholding rights of sections of the country.

He believed then and still does that the government and its resources, including the occupancy of public office, were reserved for a few communities and not necessarily a function of merit. Even if you qualified, if you did not come from the shareholding communities, you were out in his calculations. The same applies to the allocation of resources.

Fundamentally, the former Number Two has not shifted positions. He still feels riled if any project is initiated elsewhere in the country.

Not too long ago, it was stated that bonuses would be introduced to compensate sugarcane farmers, similar to the compensation for coffee and tea farmers over the past six decades. He and his team disapproved of this. Cane farming is a predominantly Western Kenya activity.

The former DP’s team does not appear happy with projects and trends elsewhere in the country or appointments that do not explicitly feature his backyard.

His appearances and speeches, however, have provided a drip-drip leak of the happenings behind the political scenes during his time at the high table. The palace intrigues are always juicy and guaranteed to have an audience. As he continues letting the country into the intrigues of power, whether he was offered a bribe to induce him to resign from his position, whether what he said in the past was from the script he was given, all that is entertaining and revealing.

Yet the former DP may sound like a broken record at some point. Unless the information leaks become juicier by the day, the public may get fatigued with the slow leaks. However, a broader agenda could attract neutral observers whose interest is to see the nation move on and for whom merit should serve as the standard.

It is clear what the former DP stands for. However, if you do not come from his backyard, it becomes difficult to identify with him, since his statements seldom go beyond a vision for his county at best, and when expansive, then for his region.

However, the country’s leadership vision must be all-encompassing. Every citizen ought to see themselves included in that imagination. Some of the leaders who have captured the imagination of this nation generally have had a national outlook and an inclusive agenda.

Think of Masinde Muliro of old, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya, and Ronald Ngala, among others. Even when they championed devolution, their vision was based on the extent to which the devolved units remained part of the centre and only served a nationwide, more evenly spread development.

Part of the appeal of the opposition leader, who is now a candidate for the Africa Union Commission chairmanship, is his championing an agenda often beyond his backyard. This is the challenge for the man angling to be the champion of the Mountain.

As the clock ticks towards 2027, and it is evident that the early shots are being fired, an all-encompassing outlook will separate the serious candidates and political players from the holders of briefcase political parties. This country deserves leadership that is inclusive and visionary.

— The writer is the Dean of Daystar University’s School of Communication-