Gachagua quits UDA, blasts ruling party over failed promises and ‘constitutional coup’

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has officially resigned from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party, days before the expected launch of his own political party.

In a resignation letter dated May 12, 2025 and addressed to the party’s secretary-general, Gachagua accused UDA of dishonesty, claiming its manifesto was built on falsehoods and failed promises.

He said he could no longer be part of a political outfit that had, in his view, betrayed the ideals it was founded upon and led the country down a “retrogressive path”.

“I have made this decision in knowledge of the ideals of the party we believed in and so were millions of Kenyans, but now has turned out as the most dangerous political moment for the people and the Republic of Kenya in the retrogressive philosophy of an unfit class to govern our Nation,” he said.

He accused UDA of squandering a historic opportunity to transform Kenya.

“The party has exhausted and wasted a Kenyan moment to take off economically, socially and politically,” he said.

Quoting the 2022 Kenya Kwanza manifesto, Gachagua recalled President William Ruto’s assertion that UDA would champion institutional strength over personal greatness and foster justice, peace, freedom, and prosperity. He dismissed this promise as a lie.

“It was a lie. No nation can be built on a litany of lies,” Gachagua said.

He went on to list areas where the UDA-led administration had failed Kenyans, beginning with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which he said had turned into a “sinusoidal malignancy”.

Economic failures

Gachagua slammed the Hustler Fund initiative, asking, “What business can Sh500 start sustainably?”

He noted that economic charters signed with counties and professional bodies had been shelved and forgotten.

He also decried the state of agriculture, alleging that promises to make Kenya food sufficient had been abandoned.

“We are being treated to no fertiliser for farmers, and grabbing of agricultural land by the powerful,” he said.

On housing, Gachagua accused the government of turning a noble initiative into a burden.

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• blasts ruling party over failed promises and ‘constitutional coup’

“This has become an individual business venture and a sharp sword on the pay slip of the Kenyan worker,” he said, referencing the housing levy.

Healthcare and governance

The former DP said the healthcare system had “collapsed”, blaming the Kenya Kwanza regime for turning the Social Health Authority (SHA) model into a business for a few well-connected individuals.

“We had promised safe and affordable healthcare by December of 2022. That promise has been betrayed,” he said.

On fiscal management, Gachagua alleged there has been reckless borrowing and entrenched corruption.

“We have become a begging nation, borrowing recklessly for budgeted corruption,” he said.

Gachagua also accused President William Ruto’s administration of neglecting the ICT and creative sectors, which were to be catalysts for youth empowerment. He also lamented the lack of support for athletes, calling the current state of sports “a dark history”.

On climate change, he likened the government’s 15-billion-tree initiative to “an international corruption scandal”.

Turning to education, Gachagua criticised the current system as a “planned failure”. He accused the government of implementing a flawed Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and a “corrupt university funding model”.

The former Deputy President further condemned what he called state-sponsored violence against women and youth.

“The regime is only meting out violence on women and abducting and killing their children while arbitrarily detaining others,” he claimed.

He also accused UDA of abandoning vulnerable groups like persons with disabilities, children, and the elderly.

On foreign relations, Gachagua said Kenya was now “embroiled in conflicts and international shame with our friendly nations due to bad diplomacy”.

‘A constitutional coup’

In one of the strongest sections of his letter, Gachagua labelled the current administration as unconstitutional.

He accused the party of undermining devolution and breaching the very constitution it promised to uphold.

“As it were, the constitutional coup by this regime remains to be matched in the history of governance since antiquity,” he said.

He slammed UDA for not listening to its people and declared his resignation from the party as a patriotic duty.

“It is my patriotic duty as a Kenyan believing in the rule of law and millions of others who do so, in the sanctity of our constitution and respecting our fore fathers and freedom fighters in the cause for our great nation that I tender my resignation from a party that does not listen to its people, the people of the Republic of Kenya,” he wrote.