Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua ushered in 2026 with a searing critique of President William Ruto’s administration, delivering a New Year message that read less like a seasonal greeting and more like a sweeping charge sheet against the government he once served.
In a statement released on New Year’s Day, Gachagua said Kenya had endured “an unstable, disturbing and painful” year, accusing the government of economic mismanagement, corruption, abuse of state power and the systematic erosion of constitutional freedoms. He said the last three years, and 2025 in particular, had been “a lost cause in a nation of hardworking and resilient people.”
“I have the greatest sense of hope that the year 2026 and indeed the next 20 months, Kenya will mark a great step in liberating itself from this trustless regime,” Gachagua said, signaling a political fight ahead as the country edges closer to the 2027 general election.
His remarks mark one of his strongest public breakaways yet from the Ruto administration, and place him firmly among the government’s most vocal critics. Gachagua accused the regime of presiding over economic decline, rising poverty and what he described as a coordinated assault on national institutions and public assets.
“We shall not forget the economic nose-dive, malicious lies, religious abuses, deaths of our young people especially the Gen Zs,” he said, linking youth deaths to state actions and political unrest witnessed over the past year.
Gachagua listed alleged attempts to loot or privatise strategic national assets, including Safaricom PLC, Bomas of Kenya, the Maasai Mara and Kenya Pipeline, while also accusing the government of facilitating illegal gold and oil siphoning operations from Kakamega to Turkana. He further claimed the Constitution had been “breached and mutilated” through reckless governance and policy decisions.
The former deputy president also trained his fire on security agencies and the justice system, accusing the state of abductions, extrajudicial killings and the misuse of criminal justice institutions to settle political scores.
“We shall vividly remember police brutality and political assassinations, the muzzling of press freedom, tear-gassing of women and children in churches, and the use of goons backed up by police,” he said.
Gachagua’s message also focused heavily on the economy, arguing that reckless borrowing, punitive taxation and poor fiscal policy had pushed millions deeper into poverty. He claimed Kenya’s poverty rate had risen to 46 percent from 38 percent in 2022, warning that an estimated two million more Kenyans risk falling below the poverty line.
“Our middle class was crashed and weakened,” he said, describing collapsed businesses, ballooning pending bills and forced deductions on workers’ payslips as symptoms of what he termed “planned and budgeted corruption.”
The healthcare and education sectors featured prominently in his critique. Gachagua cited “starving patients at Kenyatta National Hospital,” a “dysfunctional SHA,” and a failed education system, arguing that the free education framework established under former President Mwai Kibaki had been systematically destroyed.
“Dear parents, as you plan to take your children back to school in January, I feel your pain,” he said.
He also raised alarm over child poverty, stating that 55 percent of Kenyan children were multidimensionally poor, with counties such as Mandera, Turkana, Samburu, Wajir and Tana River recording some of the worst indicators.
Beyond Kenya’s borders, Gachagua accused the government of damaging the country’s international standing through what he described as expensive but fruitless foreign trips, international money laundering schemes and Kenya’s alleged involvement in illegal arms and gold trade linked to conflict zones such as Darfur.
Despite the bleak assessment, Gachagua sought to end on a note of defiance and optimism, casting himself and like-minded leaders as part of a broader effort to reclaim the country.
“Despite the pains that we have been through as a country, we shall reclaim our land and make Kenya a better nation for the 55 million of us,” he said, pledging to restore economic stability, security, agriculture, healthcare, democracy and constitutional order through “better policies.”
His closing message, “God bless Kenya,” capped a statement that underscored the deepening political rifts within the ruling establishment and set the tone for what is shaping up to be an increasingly combative run-up to the 2027 elections.
