Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said that he will vie for presidency in 2027.
According to Gachagua, he is sure of a landslide victory.
He explained that even though he was impeached, he had not exhausted all legal channels as allowed by the constitution.
The former DP said that he is ready to challenge the impeachment up to the Supreme Court level, which he believes will take time and this will allow him to be on the ballot.
“Our laws say if you have not exhausted all legal mechanisms, you are free to vie for any office. Rigathi Gachagua’s case has not even started, it will go to the high court, then to the court of appeal and if it will not go well, we go to the Supreme Court. Before it is concluded at the Supreme Court, Rigathi Gachagua will vie for the presidency and he will win with so many votes,” Gachagua said on Sunday night.
He further clarified that he is aware all other opposition politicians also have their eyes on the country’s top seat and that is not a problem.
He said that for now, their focus is on looking for votes from Kenyans, but when the time comes, they will have to settle on a single candidate for the opposition coalition.
Gachagua added that should he not be picked, he will fully support the candidate the opposition will have settled on.
“I am vying for presidency, so is Martha Karua, Kalonzo Musyoka, Fred Matiang’i, Eugene Wamalwa and we continue to look for votes, in the end we shall talk and agree to back one candidate. Even if it is not me, I will support whoever we agree on.”
During the same interview on Weru TV, the ex-DP said that he is focused on the politics of saving Kenya from what is currently ailing it.
“I was not impeached by the people. I was impeached by MPs who did not elect me. Impeached or not, I am still a leader and that is why people listen to me everywhere I go. I am in the politics of saving Kenya.”
He is expected to launch his political party in May.
I’m in the politics of saving Kenya – Gachagua
“I must return the dignity of the people of Mt Kenya.”
He went on to say that he is actively working on addressing the economic issues facing the country and redeeming the image of the Mt Kenya region.
“I was not impeached by the people. I was impeached by MPs who did not elect me. Impeached or not, I am still a leader and that is why people listen to me everywhere I go. I am in the politics of saving Kenya, and it is in two ways; one because our economy is bad, there’s too much theft, and Kenya is headed in the wrong direction. Two, I must return the dignity of the people of Mt Kenya,” Gachagua said in an interview on Weru TV.
He insisted that it is the very reason that he is keen on forming a political party that the region will identify with.
Earlier, Gachagua said he would launch the party in May, and that its leadership would have youths play an active role.
This, he said, will include a Gen Z as the deputy party leader.
The former DP said he will not let the Mt Kenya region get duped in the 2027 election.
He added that it is also the reason he is working with other leaders from across the country.
Since his impeachment last year, Gachagua has become a great critic of President William Ruto and his administration.
He insists on working with like-minded leaders to take power in the 2027 elections.
We don’t need Raila to win 2027 elections – Gachagua
“Kusema ukweli hatumuhitaji, tuko sawa.”
Gachagua also said that the opposition does not need the support of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to win the next general elections.
He said that he sees no possibility of Raila teaming up with them, since he works with President William Ruto.
He was responding to a question on what would happen if Raila decided to work with the opposition.
The former DP insisted that they do not need Raila and that they are fine as the opposition.
He said the opposition’s greatest asset is the Kenyans in formal employment whom he said are about 3.5 million and suffer the most over deductions on their pay slips.
Gachagua said once the opposition gets into office they will reduce these burdensome taxes including the Housing levy and allow counties to rent out the affordable houses to repay Kenyans.
“Sijui vile ataamua (Raila Odinga), naona wako pamoja. Kusema ukweli hatumuhitaji, tuko sawa. Vile kenya inakaa watu wa payslip ni 3.5 million na hawa ndio wanaumia sana,” Gachagua said.
This loosely translates to, “I don’t know what he (Raila Odinga) will decide, I think they are together. To be honest, we don’t need him, we are fine. As it stands in Kenya, there are 3.5 million people on pay slips and these are the ones who are suffering the most.”
Gachagua said that he is working with other like-minded leaders, including former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, and former Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i whose name has been in the media lately over plans to vie for presidency in 2027. He has, however, not publicly made his intentions known to the public.
Others are Martha Karua (PLP) and Eugene Wamalwa (DAP-K) among other leaders from the Mt Kenya region and other parts of the country.
The former DP further noted that impeached or not, he remains fully committed and is in the politics of saving the country from the current leaders.
“I was not impeached by the people. I was impeached by MPs who did not elect me. Impeached or not, I am still a leader and that is why people listen to me everywhere I go. I am in the politics of saving Kenya.”
So here is the good news for President William Ruto. He will have Rigathi Gachagua as the opposition and in that case Ruto doesn’t even have to campaign to win the presidency in 2027. He can just sit down at State House and Gachagua will get his tribal votes and lose.
Now if Gachagua wakes up and realizes that having been impeached as the DP he can run for any office in Jamhuri. Dude can’t even be a D.O like he was for Moi in 1992 in Molo where he killed thousands of Kikuyu people because they did not vote for President in the first multi-party election in Kenya made possible by the same Raila Odinga who is a headache to Gachagua and others.
If Gachagua cannot run for the presidency who will he support and that is the big question that even Gachagua himself has no clue how to address. Can Gachagua go for Kalonzo Musyoka, and the answer is no no because Gachagua wants a Kikuyu presidency. Can he support Martha Karua for the presidency, no because Gachagua a chauvinist and supporting a woman for the presidency will offend his values. And Martha Karua was DP candidate for Raila Odinga for God’s sakes.
Kalonzo Musyoka is going to run for the presidency in 2027 with or without the support of Rigathi Gachagua. Kalonzo and his team main argument has been that for 15 years Kalonzo stepped back and did not run for the presidency to let Raila Odinga run and now is his turn. Good for him.
Can Gachagua go with Fred Matiang’i as his horse in the presidential race? Again he is not a Kikuyu person which is a big hill for Gachagua to climb. But the bigger question is whether Matiang’i stands a chance against Ruto and his allies. Not much and that is just what it is.
The baby Pendo Killer, Matiang’i would be ideal for Gachagua but who knows what happens next.
Why police baby killers are still not on trial seven years on
Seven years after their baby daughter was killed during a brutal midnight operation by police in Kenya at a time of post-election tension, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng are still raw with emotion as the case against the alleged officers involved has once again been delayed.
“It is a scar that will never fade away,” Ms Achieng, a hotel worker, tells the BBC about the death of six-month-old Samantha Pendo who died with a broken skull and of internal bleeding.
After each postponement or small development, the couple are swamped with calls. Each moment of expectation leads to disappointment in their search for justice.
The family live in the western city of Kisumu – an opposition stronghold where riots broke out in August 2017 amid anger about the results of an election that was eventually re-run because of irregularities.
Samantha Pendo’s parents are desperate for the case against the police officers to start
Their small home was along a road in the Nyalenda informal settlement that witnessed protests on 11 August where anti-riot police were deployed.
That night the couple locked their wooden door and barricaded it with furniture. At around midnight, they heard their neighbours’ doors being broken down and some of the occupants being beaten.
It was not long before police officers arrived at their door.
“They knocked and kicked it several times [but] I refused to open,” Mr Abanja tells the BBC, adding that he pleaded with them to spare his family of four.
But the battering continued until the officers found a small space through which they threw a tear-gas canister into the one-roomed house, forcing the family out.
Mr Abanja says he was ordered to lie down outside the door and then the beating started.
“They were going for my head so I held my hands up, and they beat my hands until they could not hold any more.”
His wife came out of the house holding Samantha, who was having difficulty breathing because of the tear gas, and was not spared either.
“They went ahead beating me [with clubs] while I was holding my daughter,” Ms Achieng says.
The next thing she felt was her daughter holding her tight “as if she was in pain”.
“I turned her and what was coming outside her mouth? It was foam.”
She shouted that they had killed her daughter and it was at that moment the beatings stopped and Mr Abanja was ordered to administer first aid.
The baby came to but was badly injured.
The couple say officers then swiftly left and neighbours helped them rush Samantha to hospital. She died after three days in intensive care.
Samantha Pendo died three days after being admitted to intensive care
Their quest for justice has been long and frustrating, like that of dozens of others caught up in the post-poll violence.
Twelve police officers have been expected to be charged with murder, rape and torture – but the hearing at which this will happen, when they will be asked to enter a plea, has yet to happen.
One of the victims’ lawyers, Willys Otieno, reckons that the delay is due to a lack of political will to deliver justice to victims of election violence.
Uhuru Kenyatta went on to win the election re-run later in 2017 – the opposition candidate withdrew from the contest. His deputy William Ruto, with whom he later fell out, was victorious in the next vote – taking office in September 2022.
“The state is no longer interested in prosecuting the perpetrators, [and] it is now left to victims’ counsels – those of us who work with non-governmental organisations and human rights groups to put pressure for the charges to be registered and the accused persons to go to trial,” Mr Otieno tells the BBC.
He accuses the current director of public prosecutions (DPP) of “acting like an attorney of the accused”.
All said and done the Kenyan opposition to the William Ruto government is worse than hopeless. They have no idea what an opposition movement looks and thinks like. Raila Odinga has been the Kenyan opposition for forty years now. Right now he would be there in the field with huge numbers and crowds. What is Gachagua and Kalonzo doing. Nothing pretty much.
Voter regisgration is what Kenya needs most and on that all parties would agree.
Today in Canada they are voting for the new Prime Minister and a new government. I asked my son who he is voting for as a Canadian citizen and he told me he voted already and told me that his vote is a secret. I know how troublesome he is. Fair enough.
We Need This In Kenya:
Didn’t register to vote? You can still do so on election day
Voters need to prove their identity and address, or another voter can vouch for them
It’s not too late for Canadians looking to cast their ballot who haven’t yet registered to vote — Elections Canada allows voters to register on election day at their polling station.
“You can do it right then and there before you vote, so people don’t need to worry if they haven’t got their registration in early,” Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna told CBC News.
“It’ll just be one extra little step before you go to vote. But it’s pretty seamless.”
These things are complicated. Does anybody remember Kibaki Tosha by Raila Odinga in 2002. He pulled it it off and it was a huge job even after Mwai Kibaki had a really bad accident.
They beat Moi, Uhuru and Ruto combined while Mwai Kibaki was in a hospital in London, England. Try that now if you are Gachagua. Not a chance. Beating a siting president out of office is a revolution and only Raila Odinga has done it in Kenya for the forty years now. Shouting in X and internet is nothing. Simple as that.
