Handshake with Ruto? Never! Gachagua says Kenya needs strong opposition

DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua during a past event/COURTESY

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has ruled out any political truce
with President William Ruto, terming the idea of a handshake as
“nonsense” and blaming it for weakening democracy and eroding
oversight institutions in the country.

Gachagua
said Kenya needs a strong and independent opposition to keep the
government in check, arguing that the country’s democratic space
had shrunk following the cooperation between the government and
opposition leaders.

“The
handshake process is nonsense. It is responsible for the erosion of
our democracy,” Gachagua said Wednesday
during a podcast interview in the United Kingdom, where he is
currently on a political tour.

He
said: “Good
democracy needs government and opposition, because power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The
DCP
leader accused
the Kenya Kwanza administration of allegedly
weakening
independent institutions and centralising power around the
presidency.

According
to Gachagua, Parliament and other oversight institutions had failed
to hold the Executive accountable.

“The
National Assembly we have today is worse than the one we had during
the one-party era,” he claimed.

He
further argued that the opposition had become more vocal and
energetic than during the era when veteran opposition leader the
late Raila
Odinga led resistance politics.

“To
tell you the truth, we are giving him (Ruto) better opposition than Raila
Odinga. Raila was a good opposition leader, but we have more energy
and agility in articulating issues,” he said.

Gachagua
also claimed that the Kenya Kwanza administration has managed to neutralise political
dissent by working with ODM and sidelining leaders within government
who disagreed with him.

“By
neutralising ODM and making sure he got rid of his deputy, who was
level-headed and patriotic enough not to agree to things that are
wrong, he now has room to do whatever he wants,” he said.

The
former DP
insisted he would not enter into any arrangement with the President
in exchange for political favours, positions or privileges.

“I
don’t think the people of Kenya would ever forgive me if today I
went and shook hands with William Ruto in exchange for money,
positions or privilege,” he said.

“We
are the only remaining voice. The Senate has been captured, governors
cannot speak and Parliament is no longer dependent.”