KENYA : Former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua has continued his onslaught on President William Ruto, whom he accuses of perpetuating immorality among leaders.
In the recent past, the president has petitioned Kenyan parents to guide their children on morals; this is in response to the emergence of insolent digital cartoons designed by government critics to ridicule him.
Speaking at a Nairobi church on Sunday, January 12, Gachagua accused Ruto of treating Kenyans to double standards.
The former deputy president wondered why the president seemed bothered about the moral conduct of the Kenyan children while failing to tame the tongues of the politicians loyal to him.
Gachagua revealed that the outspoken politicians who accompany Ruto to rallies are always instructed by him to hurl insults at those deemed government critics.
"Don't blame those leaders. I have stayed with the president, and I know him. When you see those politicians insulting people, the president laughs behind them. He is always the one who sends them," said Gachagua.
He accused the president of stewarding a team of politicians who accuse Kenyans on a daily.
Gachagua told Ruto not to expect decency from Kenyans, yet those in his circles talk down on Kenyans.
"He (Ruto) should not complain about insults. He is the one who started. He abused Uhuru Kenyatta, a drunkard, called Raila Odinga a witch; now he is sending his MPs to abuse Kenyans; they are the ones who have taught young Kenyans how to insult," he said.
He petitioned the president to stop the abductions of Kenyans over such frivolous matters as cartoons and AI photos ridiculing some of the government leaders.
Elsewhere, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has sparked controversy after issuing a presser hard-hitting to the government he serves in.
On Sunday, January 11, Muturi publicly took issue with the government's conduct as regards abductions and other extra-judicial acts perpetrated against the civilians.
Muturi implied that Ruto's government had reneged on lots of the promises he made to Kenyans while on the campaign trail.
For instance, he referenced Ruto's promise of never entertaining abductions, as had been the case with the regime under former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
With the forgoing, the CS seemed to regret his association with Ruto and even cited being forewarned against joining the president's camp.
"Many friends and political colleagues at the time warned me against joining the coalition, but at a personal level, I was persuaded that it would be driven by the ideals and the values that the coalition stated, as a hustler nation, to do the best for the people of Kenya. One of the things we had accused the past regimes of was the existence of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Kenyans, and we vowed that we would never, at our watch, condone or allow such. Today, there have been a number of abductions and, in some cases, unexplained deaths," he said.
He further seemed to suggest that the Kenya Kwanza regime had failed to live up to the ideals and principles it sold to Kenyans while seeking power.
According to him, he was convinced to join the now-ruling faction as its themes of leadership aligned with those of his party.
"I joined the Kenya-Kwanza coalition owing to the fact that the principles that they espoused are in tandem with the principles of the party I belong to, namely the Democratic Party of Kenya," he said.
Still on the incidents of abduction, Muturi regretted that his son was picked by unknown people in June 2024 despite his then status within government; was serving as the Attorney General.
He revealed not having received any explanation months into his child's forcible disappearance.
Muturi noted that such incidents had left, not only his, but families of many Kenyans in disarray, seeming to accuse the involved state operatives of impunity.
"Now, more than six months later, after that ordeal and the release of my son by unknown forces, he has not been charged with any offence, and the government at all levels has not been able to give me any explanation or reasons as to his abduction by hooded armed gangsters," he said.
"Since the Gen-Z revolts of June last year, and it is unfortunate, as most of the people being abducted and or killed are our youth, leaving the parents, relatives and friends, and other family members in a state of confusion and loss," he said.