Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has launched a scathing attack on ODM leader Raila Odinga, accusing him of betraying the Gen-Z movement by aligning with President William Ruto.
Speaking during a rally with Kenyans living in the United States, Gachagua said Raila’s newfound cooperation with Ruto was “inconsequential” and a betrayal of the youth-led movement that had recently energized Kenya’s streets in protest against economic hardship and state overreach.
“Raila Odinga has abandoned the cause,” Gachagua declared. “He is being used to pacify dissent, but Ruto has no intention of implementing the NADCO report. He told me himself—it’s just a delay tactic.”
Gachagua, who has rebranded himself as a vocal opposition figure after being ousted from government, accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of rampant economic mismanagement, increasing youth unemployment, and abuse of human rights and the rule of law.
He warned that Ruto’s regime was using Raila as a political decoy, while Parliament, under Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah, stalls key reforms promised in the post-protest NADCO report.
On internal wrangles within ODM, sparked by recent remarks from Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, Gachagua claimed the tensions were a “calculated” move to weaken the opposition before 2027.
“By the time William Ruto is done with Raila, he’ll be politically irrelevant. This union will not serve the people. It’s a trap,” Gachagua added.
The fiery remarks signal a re-emergence of Gachagua as a political force abroad, seeking to galvanize diaspora and youth support against the Ruto-Raila détente, which he paints as elitist and detached from Kenya’s struggling majority.
