United Opposition rubbishes division rumors

Leaders from the United Opposition yesterday held a meeting in Nairobi and assured supporters that they are still together, against the backdrop of claims that they are divided and that some of them are seeking to leave the group.

The group later attended the Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) National Delegates Conference (NDC), where they also dismissed what they termed as forces of impunity working to weaken their unity, insisting that they will hold together and agree on one candidate to run against President William Ruto in 2027.

Speaking at the NDC held at Ufunagamano House in Nairobi, they also promised to stand firm in the fight against impunity and corruption, and also warned that anyone betting on their differences will lose.

Former Attorney General Justin Muturi, who was also unanimously elected as the party leader and DP’s flag bearer, condemned President William Ruto’s administration, saying Kenyans are facing a harsh and undeniable crisis.

“The people sitting here and I will definitely unite and give Kenya one presidential candidate. We must put the welfare of the Kenyan people above individual ambition. However, let us not be naïve. The forces of impunity and corruption networks now ravaging our country are also at work. They will attempt to weaken this unity,” Muturi said.

In attendance were opposition leaders, including Rigathi Gachagua, Kalonzo Musyoka, Fred Matiang’i, Martha Karua and Eugene Wamalwa, among others.

“As you well know, they are trying to distract us and even before this NDC, they were at work trying to look for a person that could compete with me for the position of party leader,” said Muturi.

The former Cabinet Secretary said the opposition must offer Kenyans a credible economic alternative, a government that listens, leadership that is accountable, and politics anchored in ideas, not ethnic arithmetic. He also promised that their unity in the opposition will not only oppose, but also repulse agents who are promoting hate and terror.

Together with his united opposition counterparts, they condemned the Othaya incident where former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua was attacked on Sunday.

Gachagua told the meeting that it was an assassination attempt and he will soon give details of what happened.

“It’s a shame. I will be telling the people of Kenya that the attack was not just another attack. We now have the details. It was an assassination attempt, sanctioned by Ruto and executed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen. We will be giving full details in the next few days so that Kenyans can know what happened,” said Gachagua.

Kalonzo said going ahead, they will hold together, noting that they have no personal issue against anyone, but only against corruption, misrule, impunity and killings of people.

“What happened in Othaya over the weekend is domestic terrorism. And we are taking legal action to do private persecution of those individuals who have been identified as perpetrators because we realise that if we don’t, Ruto will continue to take this country for granted,” Kalonzo said.

The former Vice President also said they will marshal all  one-term movement candidates everywhere in the country to get together, “so that we stand united” for the country to take note of the direction we want them to take.

Karua said: “We are in the united opposition because we all agree on the one-term movement to remove the pain of Ruto. The manual for operating the Republic of Kenya is the Constitution of Kenya 2010. We have to unite to liberate Kenya.”