Skip to main content Skip to page footer

Uhuru closes ranks with Gachagua as Matiang'i joins anti-Ruto 2027 alliance

Mr Kenyatta's Jubilee Party presidential candidate Dr Fred Matiang'i met the Gachagua team in a Nairobi hotel ostensibly to lay foundations of making Dr Ruto a one-term president.

Gachagua Team

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (second left) with other members of the opposition team which they say will liberate Kenya. They welcomed former Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, former Speaker Justin Muturi and former Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi. Courtesy photo

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday appeared to be closing ranks in forming an anti-President William Ruto contest formation ahead of 2027 General Election.

This was after Mr Kenyatta's Jubilee Party presidential candidate Dr Fred Matiang'i met the Gachagua team in a Nairobi hotel ostensibly to lay foundations of making Dr Ruto a one-term president.

Mr Gachagua said "this was a meeting of a team to liberate Kenya...it gets bigger every day, welcome, Dr Matiangi... You are on the right side of history".

Dr Matiang'i was meeting Mr Gachagua for the second time in four(4) days, after they met last Saturday, increasing the suspicions that Mr Kenyatta is finally embracing Mr Gachagua as a 2027 ally.

The meeting was also attended by Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, DAP-Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa, and People's Liberation Party leader Martha Karua.

Also in attendance were former Public Service CSb Justin Muturi, former Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, and Rift Valley politician Mr Torome Saitoti.

Ms Karua said "it was a very good morning and welcome onboard...This is the Team that will liberate Kenya" while Mr Musyoka said "a step at a time towards the grand goal of liberating this country...we will be there".

Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni told AVDelta News that "it should never be blurred, it must never be vague...that our former president stands firmly on the side of the people and the common good oriented goals are what he aligns himself with both in public and in his privacy".

Mr Kioni said "it does not matter who gets irked by Mr Kenyatta's words of goodwill counsel...he is not that man who for awkward reasons will say the wrong things to please the wrong people...and they know it having had the opportunity to work under him for two(2) decades and with him for more than three(3) decades".

The meeting was described by political scientist Mr John Okumu as "the far start of the walk through anti-Ruto alliance minefield...the ganging of Mt Kenya's heavyweights who control the Mt Kenya voting bloc and a screamer warning shot that 2027 will be difficult for the incumbent".

Mr Okumu said "if this talent-laden and fabulously rich alliance that is coming up will overcome competing interests, ambitions, diverse outlooks and manage a sulking national voting block, then the Must Go vs Kumi Bila Brakes duel will be something of historical proportions".

It is a meeting that Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology don Mr Charles Mwangi described as "only necessary to announce Dr Matiang'i as an ally and broadly send signals that former president Kenyatta is finally crossing over to where Mt Kenya voters' 2027 passions are".

Mr Mwangi said "Dr Matiang'i's presence in the Gachagua meeting gives the political landscape one of the clearer signals that Mr Kenyatta has finally decided to get involved in anti-Ruto reelection bid...and it is not a nice happening for the incumbent".

After about eight(8) years of political war between the two(2) Mt Kenya political giants in their own rights, it appears Mr Kenyatta and Mr Gachagua are about to converge for a common goal of kicking President Ruto out of power.

Mr Gachagua had served as Mr Kenyatta's personal assistant since 1992 until 2013 when the latter was elected the Fourth President.

Mr Gachagua was to later contest the Mathira parliamentary seat in 2017 and won, but fell out with President Kenyatta a year later over presidential ambitions of Dr Ruto.

As it were, President Kenyatta despite promising State House tenancy to Dr Ruto in their joint ticket campaigns in 2012 went ahead and reneged and instead started oscillating towards opposition chief, Raila Odinga.

The shift of allegiance became the point of departure between Kenyatta and Gachagua.

Mr Gachagua threw his lot with Dr Ruto, went ahead and brought together Mt Kenya leaders to lead defiance against the Head of State and their then kingpin.

Mr Gachagua brought together Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara, then Kandara MP Alice Wahome, National Assembly majority leader Mr Kimani Ichung'wah, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and the then Gatundu South MP Mr Moses Kuria to lead anti-Kenyatta succession plan in the Mountain.

The rebellion worked astonishingly when President Kenyatta's candidate lost the vote, Mt Kenya giving Dr Ruto 87 percent of its vote.

Mr Gachagua was to become the Deputy President who by all perceptions of public speech hated and demeaned Mr Kenyatta.

Mr Gachagua's Simon Makonde similar political story was to end in tears after only two(2) years when his buddy President Ruto sponsored his impeachment in October 2024.

Mr Gachagua refused to politically die and instead repackaged himself as the face of President Ruto's government most ardent opposition voice, started grouping political ambitions against the incumbent's reelection bid and appears now to have gained the prerequisite rhythm to do so.

Even after Mr Kenyatta met President Ruto in December 2024 in Ichaweri in what was anticipated to be a handshake for political cooperation beyond 2027, Mr Kenyatta was to within two(2) months send signals that the unity between them had miscarried.

The Nairobi meeting between Dr Matiang'i and the Gachagua wing comes at a time when Mr Kenyatta is painfully pricking the Ruto government the wrong way by supporting youthful political activism and Mr Gachagua on a road rage of sensational exposures against the Head of State and the government.

Mr Gachagua has been joined in that drive by Mr Muturi and Mr Linturi who for the recent times have been hopping from one media house to the other releasing damning information against the Head of State and his government.

We had been tipped that the leaders had developed a six-point agenda prior to the meeting and which were discussed in point forms.

The agendas were listed as commencement of the formation of Umbrella Coalition Party to accommodate fringe parties and escalate regional mobilisation by fronting all principal members as possible presidential candidates.

Others were development of memorandums of understanding, establishment of working committees, ways to consolidate support from youths as well as how to develop a euphoric political storm.

Kikuyu Council of elders Chairman Wachira Kiago on Tuesday told us that "when our political soldiers appear to be walking in perfect sync with our collective political goals, we can only raise up our eyes to the Almighty Lord and say thank you".

He said "the unity of our community is paramount and is the desire of the elders".

Mr Kiago said "before we reach out to others for the national discourse, we must first unite as a community, love one another, be each soul's keeper...and pray for one another that  prosperity finds us".

Mr Kiago said "where Mr Kenyatta and Mr Gachagua are means the community is there and any time the two are working at cross purposes the region bleeds".

uhuru kenyatta rigathi gachagua fred matiang'i politics