Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says he is in talks with other opposition leaders to form a mega coalition that will dethrone President William Ruto and deliver the 2027 presidential election.
Mr Gachagua, who has promised to name the political party to rival Kenya Kwanza on Monday, said they were ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of removing Dr Ruto, his former boss, from power.
“We shall be selfless as a team and let us not approach this election with a predetermined mindset that so and so will become this. We have one agenda, to remove this man. That is the first objective,” he said during the official launch of Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) new headquarters in Karen.
He welcomed like-minded parties across the country, which share the ideology of making President William Ruto a one-term president, to join the bandwagon “for the sake of delivering Kenyans from Ruto's hands”.
He said he was reaching out to other leaders including Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua and former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to form an alliance that will deliver Kenyans from new taxes that have been imposed to them.
“Once a new government is sworn in, that housing levy will have to be abolished. So that we restore the dignity of pay slips. Kenyans have suffered too much.”
He called Wiper Democratic Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and his DAP-K counterpart Eugene Wamalwa to focus on consolidating votes from their regions.
Mr Gachagua has claimed that the Kenya Kwanza government has never been serious in fighting corruption, and that some of the projects being launched were riddled with graft and economic crime.
“I almost believed the president until it came to my attention. It has nothing to do with housing. It's a business…you are told that before you start building affordable housing, you must sign a subcontract with the company that manufactures cement and iron sheets,” Mr Gachagua said.
He accused Cotu secretary-general Francis Atwoli of failing to protect Kenyan workers from the new taxes and instead supporting the president.
He also criticised the President and his team for using the western region tour to talk about him and his allies instead of working for Kenyans.
Mr Musyoka said that he was already forming a team of experts that would assist them to deliberate on main issues and draw strategies ahead of 2027 election.
“We must do these things differently. We are dealing with very crafty characters. We need to be very deliberate. We are not going to announce everything to these people. We have to be strategic,” Mr Musyoka said.
He said that the cases of abductions and forceful arrests in the country are enough reasons to send Ruto home.
“We cannot afford, in my view, to allow these people to manipulate, to steal, to mess up with 2027. That is why you hear some of them saying that they know how to manufacture presidency,” Mr Musyoka said.
Mr Wamalwa reiterated that the new coalition would deliver the Western region and Nyanza region, following the merger of Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress and Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance.
They also stated that efforts are being made to deliver seats in some key areas, including Nairobi County, where Tonny Gachoka declared interest to unseat Governor Johnson Sakaja.
