Murkomen Turns Tables on Gachagua Over Multi-Million-Shilling Watch Remarks

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has turned the tables on former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after the latter questioned the CS over his choice of an expensive wristwatch.

Murkomen responded with a pointed comparison, arguing that Gachagua’s criticism was misplaced given what he claimed was the former Deputy President’s own preference for luxury timepieces.

In a strongly worded statement following an engagement in Kajiado, Murkomen said Gachagua had accused him of wearing an expensive watch, yet he was allegedly wearing a Rolex Daytona valued at approximately KSh6.8 million while addressing the gathering.

“Today in Kajiado, Mr. Rigathi Gachagua—the tribal jingoist—accused me of wearing an expensive watch, yet on the hand he held the microphone to spit tribal vitriol, he wore a Rolex Daytona watch worth Kenya shillings 6.8 Million,” Murkomen said.

The CS also claimed that Gachagua’s social media posts show a wider collection of Rolex watches, which he estimated could be worth approximately KSh50 million.

While Murkomen did not provide an independent valuation of the alleged collection, his response appeared intended to challenge what he viewed as a double standard in Gachagua’s criticism.

For Murkomen, the issue goes beyond the price of a watch. He accused the former Deputy President of using the subject to advance what he described as tribal and class-based politics.

“I bet in his tribal classism, watches are not for ‘watu kama Murkomen’. Ukabila ishindwe!” he said.

Murkomen’s response has therefore shifted the conversation from his own watch to questions about whether political leaders should be judged differently based on the cost of items they wear.

The CS has positioned his remarks as a rejection of what he sees as attempts to portray him as undeserving of luxury items because of his background, while simultaneously questioning the consistency of those making such criticism.

The exchange also highlights the increasingly combative political relationship between Murkomen and Gachagua, with the two figures taking sharply different positions on Kenya’s political direction.

For Murkomen and his supporters, the watch controversy provides an opportunity to push back against what they consider unfair attacks on the Cabinet Secretary, while also putting the spotlight on the former Deputy President’s own lifestyle and political rhetoric.

Gachagua had not responded to Murkomen’s claims about the Rolex Daytona or the alleged KSh50 million watch collection at the time of publication. The valuations cited by Murkomen could also not be independently verified.