Nairobi — Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Sunday responded to claims made by his former boss, President William Ruto, that the new opposition alliance he is clobbering up has no development agenda and is only focused on attacking him for hours on end.
Speaking during a Sunday church service in Machakos, Gachagua dismissed the claim and instead questioned why the President was spending over four hours watching them when Kenyans expect him to lead the government in providing essential services.
"I heard William Ruto say that we should stop spending four hours talking about him. It made me wonder, what is a whole President doing spending four hours watching something he deemed useless? Shouldn't he be working for the Kenyans who elected him?" Gachagua said.
The President made the remarks on February 27, following the rebranding of Martha Karua's People's Liberation Party. He urged the new alliance to abandon tribal politics and present a clear development plan that could rival the one being implemented by Kenya Kwanza in areas such as infrastructure, housing, and social welfare for Kenyans.
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Gachagua, clarified that the opposition's key agenda items, the main one being unseating President Ruto in the next General Elections.
"It's not that we have no plan, but the most urgent plan we've been given by Kenyans is to defeat you in the next polls," he said.
Gachagua continued: "It's not possible to implement our plans before we remove you, because one of our plans is to end abductions and extrajudicial killings. Another plan is to restore the health system, which you have messed up.
"We also want to end the affordable housing project, which has been awarded to private entities, and finally, we want to restore the dignity of the payslip. So, we have many plans, Mr. President, but removing you is a prerequisite to implementing them," he emphasised
The former Deputy President also emphasized that the new opposition alliance is undeterred by the reported pact between President Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga, which seems to be aimed at accommodating more ODM members in the Cabinet and other senior government positions.
Gachagua, who was removed from office in October 2024, claimed that President Ruto is now desperate for support from Odinga and will do anything to ensure his political survival.
"The situation right now is like that of a patient taken to the ICU, who is put on life support. William Ruto's life support machine is Raila Odinga. If it's switched off, he will be finished politically," he said.
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"If Mzee teams up with Ruto, we have no problem. Because we believe that if we put forward a united candidate, William Ruto will, at best, finish in third or fourth place in the next general election," Gachagua added.
He also urged the residents of Machakos to pressure Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka to resist the advances being made by those in government.
Instead, he encouraged Kalonzo to stay with the opposition alliance, which promises a better future for the region if they win the next polls and form a government.
"This is the formula: politics is a game of mathematics. The mathematics in politics is always about addition, never about subtraction. That is why your President is stuck. His actions of impeaching me meant he subtracted 5 million votes. The 2 million votes that the Eastern region gave to Raila are no longer guaranteed."
"But Kalonzo and I are doing the politics of addition. We want this new GEMA to truly unite Mount Kenya. After all, we are cousins, we speak the same language. We have to join other Kenyans as one group. In the 2027 election, our united coalition will win in round one, and I assure you, people of Ukambani, there will be no run-off," he stressed.
