Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta.
President William Ruto on Friday, for the second day running, attacked his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta over his 2027 General Election plans, on a day opposition luminaries came out in defence of the former Head of State. With one year to go, Mr Kenyatta’s large shadow once again being cast over next August’s poll.
Dr Ruto accused Mr Kenyatta of failing the country during his 10-year presidency and propping up politicians he said were without an agenda for the country.
This came as former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, Wiper Patriotic Front boss Kalonzo Musyoka, Jubilee presidential aspirant Dr Fred Matiang’i and Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya separately told off Dr Ruto, saying he had lost popularity and should face his real challengers, rather than a retired Head of State who is already barred by law from contesting the top seat in future.
“I have asked my competitors to lay out their agenda. The reason why they do not have an agenda is because their sponsor has not given them the syllabus. The sponsor himself did not do what I have done so far. I have built stadiums, revived the sugar sector, built roads, affordable housing, hired 100,000 teachers and laid out a universal healthcare plan, all the things he was not able to do,” Dr Ruto said in Bungoma when he made stops at Nzoia Sugar Factory and commissioned the Bukembe-Mutomolu Road after attending the Kenya Music Festival concert at the Bungoma State Lodge.
He rubbished Mr Kenyatta’s alleged sponsorship of the opposition, saying it was trickling down to the opposition, which he said was nowhere near enough to mount a meaningful campaign.
“Now I ask you: I carried these people’s sponsor. Now he is not giving them anything—not even enough for fuel. My friend, if you have decided to carry these people, you are a billionaire, give them enough money then,” the President said.
President William Ruto.
The dragging of Mr Kenyatta’s name into current politics is almost a full-circle moment for Dr Ruto and his former boss, with whom he fell out in 2018 after the handshake deal with Raila Odinga.
Mr Kenyatta backed Mr Odinga in the 2022 General Election against his then deputy, Dr Ruto, who won by a slim margin of 200,000 votes.
Now, Mr Kenyatta, as chairman of the Azimio Coalition, has revived the Mr Odinga 2022 vehicle, with Mr Musyoka as the new party leader, with plans for a joint coalition in the 2027 poll against Dr Ruto.
Before his death in October 2025, Mr Odinga had entered into a deal with President Ruto, and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party now forms an integral part of his re-election campaign, with the former’s elder brother, Dr Oburu Oginga, leading the charge.
Dissatisfied ODM members, led by former secretary-general Edwin Sifuna, Siaya Governor James Orengo, his Vihiga counterpart Godfrey Osotsi and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, have bolted out, forming their own Linda Mwananchi faction, which wants President Ruto out of office in 2027.
Mr Sifuna recently admitted speaking to Mr Kenyatta regularly but denied being funded by him.
On Friday, Mr Gachagua asked President Ruto to leave the former president alone.
“Leave Uhuru alone, he is not competing with you and will not be on the ballot in 2027. Just come to terms that your opposition is Rigathi Gachagua, the one you chased away two years ago. For the four years you have been the President, you have done nothing. You are trying to divert the attention of Kenyans to start talking about Uhuru, yet he is a retired President. He is not a candidate on the ballot,” Mr Gachagua said in Naivasha, Nakuru County, where he held a series of rallies.
The former deputy president said the government replaced the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) with the Social Health Authority (SHA), changed the higher education funding plan, and allowed goons in politics, things he said brings them below the former president in performance.
Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) Party Leader Rigathi Gachagua during a media briefing at the party's offices in Nairobi on August 11, 2026.
“Uhuru left behind a peaceful country, good health and education system. What’s your problem with Uhuru Kenyatta? I want to tell you, leave Kenyatta alone. He left you a country which was peaceful. Four years later, you have brought goons, suspended the Constitution and the rule of law. Uhuru left you with NHIF, which was working. You scrapped it and introduced this animal called SHA, which is not working,” Mr Gachagua said.
Mr Musyoka, on his part, cautioned President Ruto against dragging the former president into current political disputes, saying political differences should be addressed directly and respectfully.
However, he urged the retired President to stay out of the 2027 General Election and allow him to face President Ruto directly in the political contest.
“Yesterday, I heard President Ruto complaining in Eldoret. He complained a lot; he loves lamenting. He said Linda Mwananchi has a funder and went ahead to criticise President Uhuru Kenyatta. I want to answer him back. First, when a monkey dies, the trees become slippery. I have personally advised President Kenyatta to step aside. He has been Kenya’s fourth President, and I don’t want his name soiled. So, I am asking him to stay away and let Kalonzo fight Ruto man to man,” said Mr Musyoka in Malindi when he welcomed former Gender Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa to Wiper.
He went on: “Instead of blaming Uhuru, blame me. I understand Dr Ruto very well. When I was the late retired President Mwai Kibaki’s Deputy President, I travelled around the world urging the international community to leave Dr Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta alone because they were our leaders.”
Dr Matiang’i, who served as Mr Kenyatta’s Interior Minister and is now his Jubilee party presidential hopeful, alongside Jubilee deputy party leader Jeremiah Kioni, Secretary-General Moitalel ole Kenta and Director of Elections Kembi Gitura, said President Ruto was using Mr Kenyatta as a punching bag for the failures of his administration.
“As a rule of thumb, as President, you cannot insult and threaten the people. Sometimes our President, Dr Ruto, uses terms in public I can’t use even as an ordinary citizen in private. We only have one president answerable to us, and we have a right to ask him questions as citizens of this great country. But when we do that, we are met with insults from the Head of State,” Dr Matiang’i said.
They were speaking in Narok during the launch of campaigns by parliamentary aspirant Parseen Ole Masikonde.
Dr Matiang’i revealed that Mr Kenyatta had been out of the country for a month and returned last week, only to find President Ruto insulting him in public over the failures of the current administration.
Mr Ole Kenta said Mr Kenyatta handed over power peacefully and should be respected, but the current administration had made him an agenda for failed policies ahead of the 2027 election.
“Even as you insult Mr Kenyatta and others, we want to remind you that you are not stupid as you claim, and there are men and women in Kenya capable of removing you and doing a better job as President. They include Dr Fred Matiang’i, Kalonzo Musyoka, Martha Karua and Rigathi Gachagua,” Mr Ole Kenta stated.
Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, who served in Mr Kenyatta’s government as an administrator, rising to the level of Rift Valley regional coordinator, also castigated President Ruto, saying he had lost it in attacking the former president.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“Uhuru is the retired president. And he has freedom of speech as well as political views. Barack Obama retired in the US in 2016, and there is no one more active in politics now. He is talking about the Democratic Party. Why are these people jittery when Uhuru speaks? Ruto will also retire a young man, just above 60. We want to tell him: He needs to be careful because we will beat him in 2027 and he might need a second term in 2032. How will he then do it if he gags former presidents?” Mr Natembeya said.
Mr Kenyatta on August 3 led the Azimio Coalition Council to ratify the restructuring of the outfit, alongside the naming of Mr Musyoka as the new party leader.
The council also admitted Dr Matiang’i, Mr Peter Munya and Mr Lenny Kivuti as council members. It also brought in Mr Justin Muturi’s Democratic Party, the People’s Democratic Party and the Umoja na Maendeleo Party. Further, the council resolved to rebrand and settle on one candidate to face the President.
It also opened talks with Mr Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) and with Linda Mwananchi, the movement fronted by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
Mr Musyoka has been pushing for a coalition model inspired by the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) that swept Mwai Kibaki to power in 2002.
Under this new arrangement, parties would retain their identities while rallying behind a common presidential candidate and a shared coalition platform.
In 2002, Mr Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party joined Mr Kibaki’s National Alliance of Kenya to form Narc, which fielded candidates in 205 of 210 constituencies and won 125 of them, with 62 per cent of the presidential vote.
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Reporting by Mercy Koskei, Vitalis Kimutai Aad Winnie Atieno
