Kalonzo Musyoka has been given an ultimatum by Azimio la Umoja coalition partners, to abandon any alliance with former Rigathi Gachagua’s ethnic politics or lose their backing for his 2027 presidential bid.
The warning follows a meeting on Monday where Azimio’s Council and National Executive Committee convened at the SKM Command Centre to ratify major leadership changes and admit three new members into the coalition’s top decision-making body.
Azimio member parties have made it clear that support for Kalonzo’s 2027 bid depends on his commitment to Azimio’s founding principles of national unity and political tolerance, values they say are incompatible with Gachagua’s politics in DCP.
“Either you’re building a national coalition or you’re chasing tribal kingpins. You can’t do both,” a senior Azimio official who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity.
The Aug 3 meeting, chaired by Kalonzo, admitted Jubilee Deputy leader Fred Matiang’i, PNU boss Peter Munya, and Devolution Empowerment Party leader Lenny Kivuti to the Azimio Council. All three leaders have fallen out with Rigathi Gachagua.
Less than 24 hours after joining Azimio’s top organ, Munya, Muturi and Kivuti delivered a coordinated rejection of Gachagua’s push for their parties to dissolve and merge into his Democracy for Citizens Party.
In a joint media briefing on Monday, Munya also dismantled Gachagua’s claim to Mt Kenya kinship.
“Gachagua has not been appointed or mandated to speak on behalf of all the people or the parties in Mt Kenya region. Such an endorsing meeting has never happened,” Munya said.
“We don’t have kings, and will never have kings in Mt Kenya.”
Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi went further, demanding that UDA MPs currently in DCP resign their seats and face by-elections before preaching party dissolutions.
“If he genuinely believes in political realignment based on principle and the sovereign will of the people, then he should encourage those elected on UDA tickets to resign and seek fresh mandates,” Muturi said.
The trio has accused Gachagua of operating a double standard, hosting UDA defectors at his Mathira residence while demanding established parties dissolve to join DCP.
The coordinated pushback has placed Kalonzo in a precarious position as Azimio’s presumptive 2027 flagbearer.
