By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, August 25, 2026 - Rigathi Gachagua has landed a potentially valuable political catch in Nairobi.
Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan Abdi has quit Jubilee Party and joined Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party, giving the former Deputy President something his rapidly expanding political outfit badly needs: an elected, experienced and locally rooted politician in the capital.
Hassan was formally received by Gachagua at the DCP headquarters on Tuesday.
This is no ordinary defection.
Hassan has represented Kamukunji since 2011 and has survived the turbulence of Nairobi politics for 15 years. He won the seat on a PNU ticket in 2011, moved to The National Alliance in 2013 and subsequently to Jubilee, under which he won in 2017 and 2022.
His political journey is therefore almost a miniature history of Kenya’s shifting coalition politics: PNU, TNA, Jubilee, and now DCP.
But this latest move could be more consequential than the previous ones because Hassan is joining a party whose leader is aggressively trying to build a national alternative ahead of 2027.
Gachagua gets more than one MP.
He gets a Nairobi foothold.
Kamukunji is politically and commercially strategic, encompassing areas including Eastleigh, Pumwani, California and Airbase. It is also deeply connected to Nairobi’s Somali and Muslim business networks. Hassan’s political longevity gives him a constituency-level credibility that cannot simply be manufactured by launching a party office.
That makes his defection particularly useful to Gachagua's efforts to broaden DCP beyond its strongest support bases.
The Muslim outreach dimension is impossible to ignore.
Hassan is a veteran Somali-Kenyan politician with deep roots in Eastleigh and a long history of advocating issues affecting his constituents. His arrival gives Gachagua an opportunity to strengthen conversations with a community whose political choices in 2027 could become increasingly important in Nairobi and nationally.
Gachagua has already framed Hassan’s arrival as significant not only for DCP but also for the Somali community, particularly around concerns of representation and inclusion.
But Hassan's own explanation is equally revealing.
He says he has joined DCP because Kenyans want change and are tired of what he described as bad politics. Another report says he cited concerns raised by residents, including the high cost of living and corruption, while expressing confidence in Gachagua’s leadership.
That gives the defection a broader political message.
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It is not merely “Yusuf has left Jubilee.”
It is potentially that Jubilee no longer offers a sufficiently compelling political home for some of its elected leaders.
And that is where the pain for Uhuru Kenyatta’s party becomes sharper.
Jubilee has already been struggling to maintain political relevance after the collapse of the political architecture that once made it one of Kenya’s dominant parties. Hassan's departure reinforces the perception that the party is losing ground precisely when politicians are calculating where they want to be ahead of 2027.
For Gachagua, the timing could hardly be better.
DCP has been gaining momentum following its victory in the Ol Kalou by-election, where it defeated President William Ruto's UDA candidate. That result has increasingly been interpreted as an early test of Gachagua's ability to challenge Ruto politically.
Hassan's arrival now gives that momentum a Nairobi face.
Yet there is a danger in reading too much into one defection.
Hassan's political history shows that Kenyan politicians frequently change party vehicles without necessarily abandoning their local political identities. His enduring strength has been his relationship with Kamukunji voters rather than the brand of any single party.
That makes the real test simple: can Hassan transfer some of that political capital to DCP?
For Gachagua, that is the prize.
For Jubilee, the loss is psychological as much as numerical.
And for Nairobi, Hassan's move signals that the 2027 contest is already becoming a fierce battle for political real estate.
Gachagua has acquired a foothold.
Jubilee has lost another pillar.
And Yusuf Hassan, the political survivor who has crossed PNU, TNA and Jubilee, has once again changed lanes, this time betting that DCP is the vehicle that can carry him and his constituents into Kenya's next political chapter.