That is the most confident he has sounded since before the Gen Z protests stormed Parliament in June 2024 leading him to sack his cabinet create a de facto unity government with the late Raila Odinga less than two years after narrowly defeating Odinga for the presidency and several months later having his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua impeached (AC Vol 65 No 16 Raila names his price)...
Most of the aspiring candidates are contesting in the old Rift Valley and Central Provinces the latter a hint that Ruto still has a strong base among the Gikuyu despite his former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua's hopes of peeling off support to his new Democracy for the Citizens Party (AC Vol 66 No 24 Ruto holds the parties together)...
In Mbeere North Embu County former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's Democracy for the Citizens Party came within 500 votes of defeating Ruto's UDA...
With Central Province deeply divided since Ruto ditched his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua last year winning Western Kenya plus the Rift Valley would likely be enough to carry Ruto to a second term...
The vacuum also leaves a golden opportunity for the Anyone But Ruto group of leaders – including former Deputy President Kalonzo Musyoka Ruto's former deputy Rigathi Gachagua (impeached last year) and former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i...
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That support was partly driven by fears that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua a bitter critic of Sakaja was gaining ground in the capital (Dispatches 30/4/25 State House has a problem with Nairobi's political boss)...
So too will Kithure Kindiki who replaced the impeached Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President last October...
That will bring together a group of former ministers and leaders among whom former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka are the most senior...
President William Ruto's falling out with his core Mount Kenya constituency – followed by the impeachment of his former deputy Rigathi Gachagua – has become the defining crisis of his presidency (AC Vol 65 No 20 The deputy takes the fall Vol 65 No 21 Mountain doesn't go to Gachagua & Vol 65 No 22 Ruto's impeachment of his Deputy starts to backfire)...
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Yet more championsFormer Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua meanwhile has also tried to position himself as a Gen Z champion...
Regime supporters have sought to give the protests an ethnic tint claiming that it has been sponsored by Kikuyu oligarchs loyal to impeached former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua...