Manyora explains why Gachagua’s return was underwhelming
By Mabonga Makhanu, August 23, 2025Herman Manyora has come out to poke holes into former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s return from the United States, saying that it was underwhelming and did not create the impact many had anticipated or as publicised by his allies.
Speaking in a video aired on his channel on Friday, August 22, 2025, the political analyst said that the return was not overwhelming but still reasonable, as it lacked deliberate mobilisation and effective use of resources.
“I had thought this was going to create a big statement; I thought Rigathi Gachagua was going to put something into his homecoming if it was for optics; otherwise, he could have just landed silently and gone home. Even if you don’t say when you are coming, the moment you announce it and people say it will be big, it had better be big. For it to be big, you have to plan and spend,” Manyora stated.
He explained that he had expected Gachagua’s homecoming to make a major statement, but it fell short. According to him, if the event was merely for optics, Gachagua could have landed quietly and gone home. Once such a return is announced and hyped, it needs proper planning and spending to live up to expectations.
Raila’s past returns
Manyora compared the situation to Raila Odinga’s homecomings, which attract massive crowds largely because of Raila’s organic following. He noted that Raila commands a messiah-like loyalty from his supporters, who show up with minimal organisation, while Gachagua does not enjoy that level of fanatical support.
“Raila has an organic following, those people who go there, but there is a little organisation that goes into it. But that is organic; you don’t have that. Since that is a fanatical following, the love people have for you, a messiah-like picture that you have among your followers, does not match that of Gachagua,” he added.
He went further to state that the reason why the return for Gachagua was very underwhelming as compared to leaders like Raila in the past was the cultural aspect; according to Manyora, in Raila’s backyard or tribe, they could have easily shown up at the airport without being mobilised to welcome their leader, something that is not the same for Gachagua’s community, who are required to be intensively mobilised with a lot of resources going into the mobilisation.
Manyora went on to advise the opposition that unless they can raise at least Ksh10 billion, they should leave the race to David Maraga, whom he considers the only figure capable of winning the presidency without relying on financial resources.