Gachagua's US Tour: Oregon, Kansas City, Dallas and Boston

Rigathi Gachagua, the former Deputy President and leader of the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), flew out of Nairobi on the night of 26 August 2026 for a tour of the United States that his party said would last about 50 days. After ten days of rest, the published itinerary took him to Spokane in Washington, Portland in Oregon, Kansas City, Dallas and Boston, with the final leg ending on 9 October. He has used the trip to court Kenyans abroad, to set terms for opposition unity and to trade accusations with rivals at home.

The itinerary

DCP released the schedule before he left. Capital FM, the Eastleigh Voice and Citizen Digital all reported the same dates:

He travelled with his wife, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi. The first ten days were set aside for rest. "I'm taking a 10-day break to re-energise and spend some quality time with my wife," he said before departure.

His stated reason for going was unusual for a party leader a year before an election. Speaking at a church service on 23 August, The Star reported, he said he wanted distance from his own lieutenants: "When I'm here there's a lot of influence - Kaguchia tells me this, Methu that; this pulls me one way, this the other way. I want to make decisions without undue influence."

Who runs DCP meanwhile

On 30 August he named deputy party leader Cleophas Malala and secretary-general designate John Methu (Senator, Nyandarua) to lead the party in his absence, Capital FM reported. The two have kept up rallies in the Rift Valley and Mt Kenya. Methu led the party's response when Mt Kenya elders named Deputy President Kithure Kindiki their spokesman at Kirigiti on 19 September.

What he said, stop by stop

In Spokane he talked about money sent home. Remittances now earn Kenya more than tea or coffee, he said, and those who send them should demand accountability. "When mismanagement and misappropriation of our resources become evident, it is our collective responsibility to speak out and seek accountability," he told Kenyans there, according to The Star.

Portland was where he spoke most about the opposition's internal politics. The Nation reported that he urged the other principals to commit publicly to accepting the outcome of a joint nomination, and said his time in the US would let him draw up a "winning formula", including proposals on who should hold which position. He addressed Kenyans in the city on 11 September and played in a golf tournament with members of the community at Gresham Golf Course, Capital FM reported. People Daily reported that he launched a DCP chapter for Oregon on 12 September.

He reached Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday 18 September. "The love and warmth I have received since beginning this tour are truly immeasurable," he said on arrival. Over the following days he made three claims that travelled back to Kenya quickly.

• Leaks. He said opposition meetings had been compromised. "We were in a meeting where two women attached to one of the principals leaked our discussions even before we had concluded our deliberations," the Nation quoted him saying. He did not name anyone.
• The Sh200 million party. He alleged an unnamed politician had been paid Sh200 million to form a party that would split the Mt Kenya vote. Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), who leads the People's Party of Kenya, challenged him to name the person. Neither claim has been established.
• Party money. On 20 September he projected that DCP could receive about Sh700 million a year from the Political Parties Fund after the 2027 election, People Daily reported. For 2026/27 DCP gets nothing: the allocation gazetted in August went to parties that fought the 2022 election, which DCP did not exist to contest. UDA's share was close to Sh550 million.

He also questioned the IEBC's conduct and warned of possible violence after the election, asking international observers to watch Kenya closely. Those are political claims. The IEBC answered an earlier set of his allegations on 27 August by saying no technology tender had been awarded and challenging him to produce evidence.

The Ruto question

Ruto was also in the US in September, for the UN General Assembly in New York. The Star reported on 30 August that the overlap had revived talk of a meeting between the two, fed by former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria's posts. The Star found no evidence that any meeting had been arranged, and Ruto had said shortly before that he would not work with leaders who "promote ethnic bigotry, divisive rhetoric or insults". Nothing reported by 23 September suggested the two had met.

Why the diaspora matters to him

Kenyans abroad vote only for President, and only in person at designated centres, which the IEBC has expanded to 26 countries including the US. The numbers registered abroad are small next to Kiambu or Nakuru. Their value to a campaign is money, networks and messengers: relatives at home listen to the person paying school fees. The rules are in diaspora voting in 2027.

For Gachagua there is a second reason. His case inside the opposition is that the candidate should be chosen late, after Christmas, and by polling. Time away lets him avoid committing while Kalonzo Musyoka's camp pushes for an earlier decision. That dispute is laid out in when the opposition might name its candidate and poll or negotiation.

The last two stops

According to the itinerary, Dallas covers 24 September to 1 October and Boston 1 to 9 October, after which he returns to Nairobi. DCP had not published venues for either city by 23 September. The first thing to watch on his return is the "winning formula" he said he was drafting, and whether he presents it to the other principals or to the public first. His party's wider position is in Gachagua and DCP: 47 counties, one MP.