Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua, on Thursday, October 9, backtracked on his earlier apology to former President Uhuru Kenyatta for the perceived bad blood during the 2022 General Election.
In an interview with Embu vernacular radio journalists, the former deputy president also insisted that his presidential ambitions had not been thwarted by the impeachment, as he still has a pending court appeal.
On the united opposition, Mr Gachagua reiterated his view that Kenyans would not forgive a breakaway third force. He said that all those interested in the ticket should convince the people, adding, "I will not carry anyone on my back."
Former President and Jubilee Party leader Uhuru Kenyatta gives a speech during the party's Special National Delegates Conference at Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi on September 26, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
Regarding Mr Kenyatta, after a year of public apologies for comments that Mr Gachagua said amounted to "cannibal behaviour where we ridiculed and shamed our king", the former deputy president has said that there was, after all, nothing to apologise for.
After Mr Kenyatta reneged on his promise to support his then deputy, William Ruto, in the 2022 presidential race, Mr Gachagua led a team of Mt. Kenya “rebels.”
Mr Gachagua managed to have Dr Ruto capture Mt Kenya, where he scooped 87 percent of the cast votes, while Mr Kenyatta and his candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, managed 12 percent.
The campaigns leading to the vote were marked with public spats, some of which, to pundits, exceeded the measure of normal talk and ranged between subjective and personalised attacks.
After Mr Gachagua was impeached as Deputy President in October last year, he reset his politics, founded DCP, and commenced a public apology spree to the Kenyatta family.
“Ruto lied to us and made us hate our son and our king. Never again will we ever repeat that mistake of hating our leaders in the mountain and practice politics of self-cannibalisation,” he said at one time.
But Mr Gachagua on Thursday night revised that position, saying, “There was no party that was in the wrong; it was all politics.”
“Politics is not a Sunday service, and neither is it a wedding. There are those things he was saying, and there are those things we were saying. I have no intention to apologise to Uhuru Kenyatta. Apologise for what? He was fronting Raila Odinga, a bad man. I was fronting Ruto, a bad man. So who wronged who? Who should apologise to the other?” asked Mr Gachagua.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is strategically positioning himself as a political hero.
Photo credit: File | Nation
Mr Gachagua, who last Sunday on KTN said, “I am the present and the future of Mt Kenya while Mr Kenyatta is the past and retired,” insisted that he was a presidential candidate in the 2027 General Election.
“I am campaigning for the position of the presidency, and should I be picked as the united opposition flag bearer, I will bring the prize home. When I recently flew out to the United States of America for over a month, the opposition nearly died. I’m the most vocal, focused, and determined in ensuring the united opposition carries the day,” Mr Gachagua said, in what appeared like a jibe at his united opposition colleagues.
“Just go and, at your most honest moment, ask yourself: Where would we be as a country and a people if Gachagua was impeached and went silent? Who would be calling out President Ruto’s excesses?” he posed.
He warned that “there are those who are trying monkey business in the united opposition, but I assure them that they will be isolated by Kenyans.”
As former DP Rigathi Gachagua pushes to consolidate Mt Kenya under his new DCP party, rival camps are working to counter his growing influence.
Photo credit: John Nyagah | Nation Media Group
Mr Gachagua said, “The united opposition is owned, dictated, and supervised by Kenyans… Kenyans know what they want, and they will be very unforgiving to those trying to disintegrate the liberation cause while masquerading as opposition luminaries.”
He said that the fact that he was impeached as Deputy President does not prevent him from contesting the 2027 presidential election.
He said his legal aides have convinced him that as long as he has challenged the impeachment in court and is nowhere near exhausting all avenues of redress, he remains as white as snow with contest rights.
He cited the example of Sirisia MP John Waluke, who was sentenced to 67 years’ imprisonment in the run-up to the 2022 General Election.
Mr Waluke had indeed been sentenced in June 2020 to 67 years in prison or to pay a Sh1 billion fine for his involvement in a maize scandal at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), where he was found guilty of fraudulently acquiring Sh297 million.
maize
Photo credit: File | Nation
However, the Court of Appeal overturned this conviction and sentence on October 11, 2024, two years after he had won the Sirisia seat. The appellate court ruled that the High Court failed to properly analyse the evidence against Mr Waluke.
“Mr Waluke, despite the conviction, was able to run for office on grounds of having an appeal in court. My case is no different. I will be vindicated… but let us wait for the courts to do their thing. Of importance to note is that I am eligible to vie for office,” he said.
“My greatest work as of now is to check on the proliferation of President Ruto’s wheelbarrows, infiltrators, spies, and saboteurs in Mt. Kenya… and I will carry no one on my back. Those who believe they are qualified to be the presidential candidate but do not want to submit to the united opposition rules and regulations should just ship out,” Mr Gachagua said of his opposition colleagues.
He said, “You believe you can strike out on your own, feel free. But remember, Kenyans have demanded that we produce one candidate to battle it out with President Ruto.”
Mr Gachagua further challenged President Ruto to provide evidence on who sponsored the June 2024 Gen Z protests.
“It is a year past since Gen Z launched protests. I was among those who were mentioned as planners and financiers. I’m still waiting for evidence that they had or that they have. I’m now demanding that evidence. The Gen Z were not financed by anyone,” he said.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki during an Economic Empowerment Programme tour in Tarbaj, Wajir County, on August 24, 2025.
Photo credit: DPCS
He said President Ruto and then Interior CS Prof Kithure Kindiki have never issued condolence messages for the youths who were abducted and later murdered.
“I had started mobilising Mt. Kenya elected leaders to be passionate about Mt. Kenya interests. Instead of taking heed, they rushed to State House to tell on me. Most of the Mt. Kenya elected leaders started snitching on me,” he said.
He said, “After reneging on true and honest bottom-up empowerment programmes, the government has resorted to tokenism, bribery, and illegal rewards for loyalty.”
He challenged Prof Kindiki to reveal where the millions being spent daily on empowerment programmes are coming from.
“Tell us where the empowerment budget that has been approved as per procedure is. You were also the Interior CS during the Gen Z abductions and extrajudicial killings. Who was responsible for those abductions and murders?” he posed.
He said the only way out for the government in the abductions and extrajudicial killings was: “One, acknowledge that there were abductions; issue a public apology; compensate the victims; and then charge the perpetrators in court and win convictions.”
