Rigathi Gachagua is set to spend more than a month in the United States, where he will visit five cities as he weighs his next political moves and seeks to strengthen support for the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Gachagua released his US tour itinerary on Tuesday, showing that his engagements will begin in Spokane on September 4 and end in Boston on October 9.
The former deputy president will spend six days in Spokane before travelling to Portland, where he will stay from September 10 to 16.
He will then move to Kansas for engagements running from September 16 to 24, before heading to Dallas from September 24 to October 1. His final stop will be Boston, where he is scheduled to remain from October 1 to 9.
The detailed programme comes days after Gachagua announced that he would leave Kenya on Wednesday, August 26, for an extended stay in the US alongside his wife, Pastor Dorcas Rigathi.
Gachagua said the trip would give him time to think through important political decisions away from what he described as pressure and influence at home.
Speaking during a church service at PEFA All Nations Church in Karatina, Nyeri County, on August 23, he said he needed to leave the country to plan his next political steps.
“On Wednesday, nishike bibi yangu mkono niingie ndege niende Amerikani nizunguke huko na nitakaa kwa muda. I’ll stay for a while because I have issues planning, and I cannot plan them here. I want to make some decisions without undue influence so that I make the right decisions,” Gachagua said.
His planned departure comes after a 55-day political consultation exercise held at his Wamunyoro residence in Nyeri.
During the consultations, Gachagua received political leaders, grassroots representatives, professionals and other groups as he gathered their views on the country's political direction and preparations for the 2027 election.
The US tour will now follow that period of local consultations as Gachagua works to build DCP into a party with a wider national presence.
Part of his US programme will involve engaging Kenyans living in the diaspora. Gachagua has said such meetings will provide an opportunity to build support among Kenyans outside the country as political parties prepare for the 2027 race.
The upcoming visit will also build on his previous US tour in 2025, which lasted about six weeks. During that trip, he held town hall meetings, attended cultural events and met Kenyans living in different states. He also launched a DCP satellite office.
Rigathi Gachagua's itinerary for US tour.
Gachagua has positioned himself as a challenger to President William Ruto in the 2027 presidential election, while DCP has been working to expand its political structures and bring more leaders into the party.
His recent political consultations have also focused on growing his support beyond his traditional Mount Kenya base. At the same time, DCP has been seeking to attract leaders and supporters from other communities as it works towards establishing a wider national network.
The planned trip also comes as Gachagua faces a separate summons from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission over remarks allegedly made during several political engagements.
His lawyers have indicated that he is expected to remain outside Kenya from August 26 until October 20, describing the foreign travel as a trip that had already been planned.
Although the official five-city itinerary ends in Boston on October 9, the wider travel schedule indicates that Gachagua could remain abroad for another 11 days.
His extended stay in the US will therefore give the DCP leader time to continue engaging the Kenyan diaspora while working on his political plans ahead of the August 2027 General Election.