The former Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, has come out to clarify his recent remarks about students from the region being given priority in top national schools within the Mount Kenya region.
While speaking in Nyeri during his engagement with Kenyans on Thursday, January 8, 2025, Gachagua clarified that he did not mean that only Mount Kenya students should join national schools located in the region.
Rather, he meant that, just like other students outside the region are called to join schools within the region, students in the area with high marks should also be allowed to join top schools within their Mount Kenya region.
He emphasised that Mount Kenya region students should be given similar treatment to any other students outside the vote-rich region.
He went on to state that in the recent selection, Mount Kenya students with good marks were called to join schools that were of a lower standard than their performance warranted, while students with similar stellar performance from other regions joined the top secondary national schools within the region.
He also criticised members of Parliament from the region, especially those aligned with the current regime and allies of President William Ruto, for maintaining silence when junior school students from the region who performed well in last year’s national examinations were all settling for schools not reflecting their marks.
“Mimi juzi niliongea nikasema Watoto wa Kenya ni sawa, mashule kubwa kubwa hata Watoto wa hapa nyumbani wanapaswa kuenda shule kubwa kubwa, na nikasema kama Watoto wetu wamefikisha marks inatakikana alliance, mangu Nyeri High, Kigumo, hata Watoto wa Mlimani ni Watoto kama Watoto wengine. Watoto wetu wamenyimwa nafasi, hawa wajumbe wa Ruto wamenyamaza,” Gachagua stated.
This comes after the former DP faced backlash from Kenyans over his remarks, with him being labelled a tribal leader.
Chama cha Kazi Party leader, who doubles as a former Cabinet Secretary, Moses Kuria, also took issue with the DP during the national school placement debate.
Kuria argued that national schools remain one of the few spaces where Kenyan students mix across ethnic and regional lines, helping to promote unity from a young age. He accused Gachagua of undermining this principle for political gain.
