Gathoni Wamuchomba
By Jane WaJack
In what appears to be the slow unraveling of a once-vocal political firebrand, Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba now finds herself on shaky political ground. Once celebrated for her fearless rhetoric and grassroots appeal, Wamuchomba is increasingly becoming a symbol of political confusion, miscalculation, and waning influence.
Her latest outburst on social media accusing former MP Kago Wa Lydia of deploying goons to sabotage her meetings paints a picture of a politician under siege. The same Kago, former area MP, has now emerged as a formidable challenger, drawing support from disillusioned voters and allies who say Wamuchomba has lost the political plot.
Months earlier, during President William Ruto’s visit to Kiambu County, Kago made a bold and symbolic move by erecting a massive billboard in the heart of Githunguri town. Wamuchomba, seemingly rattled, lashed out publicly, but insiders say her grip on the constituency has never been weaker.
Her political brand first began to fracture during her tenure as Kiambu Woman Representative. Dubbed “Wamicara” (loosely translated as “of salary”) due to her ill-timed calls for salary hikes, Wamuchomba alienated a large segment of her electorate at a time when Kenyans were grappling with a cost-of-living crisis. The backlash was swift and brutal, and it left scars that never quite healed.
Since then, her political identity has been a whirlwind of shifting alliances and contradictory stands.
A once-loyal defender of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s “Riggy G” movement, she publicly turned against him on national television, only to later attempt a reconciliation.
Her defection to the newly formed DCP party, and also seemingly aligning with former CS Fred Matiang’i, was met with suspicion.
She’s not fully DCP, not fully Matiang’i, and certainly not embraced by the ruling UDA party.
“She’s politically homeless,” said a resident of Kiambu. “Wamuchomba may be burning too many bridges and building too few.”
Despite murmurs from her camp that she may be eyeing the Kiambu gubernatorial seat, political observers view it as a bluff or, at best, a desperate gamble. Without a clear party base, without trusted alliances, and with mounting opposition from a resurgent Kago Wa Lydia, the road ahead looks bleak.
“She plays musical chairs with political loyalty,” says a senior Jubilee defector now in UDA. “In a county as politically charged as Kiambu, that’s a game you don’t win twice.”
Wamuchomba’s fate now lies not just in the hands of voters, but in the strategic moves—or lack thereof—she makes in the coming months. But as of now, the writing appears to be on the wall: the once-fiery MP is losing her grip, her allies, and possibly her seat.
Unless something dramatic shifts, Gathoni Wamuchomba may soon join the growing list of one-term constituency MPs, loud on the podium, but silenced by the ballot.
