Democracy for the Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua at JKIA
The DCP leader insists picking a flag bearer is the easiest task ahead — but uniting a fractious coalition is another matter entirely
By Jane Njeri
Democracy for the Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua said yesterday that the opposition will settle on a single presidential candidate by March or April next year, dismissing anxiety over the timeline as premature and urging colleagues to focus instead on mobilising voters against President William Ruto.
Speaking to journalists at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport before departing for the United States, where he is expected to engage Kenyans in the diaspora, Gachagua was characteristically direct. “Choosing a single presidential candidate is the easiest of all the challenges that we have ahead of us. We can meet one day for lunch and before dinner we have a candidate,” he said.
He drew on the 2002 precedent to argue for patience. “Mwai Kibaki was chosen as the single presidential candidate for the opposition on October 14, 2002, when elections were to be held on December 27 the same year. We have a whole year, what is the hurry?” He added that discussions would crystallise after Christmas, expressing satisfaction with mobilisation in Western Kenya, singling out Eugene Wamalwa, Edwin Sifuna and Cleophas Malala by name.
Gachagua acknowledged his own presidential ambitions while pledging to support whoever the coalition ultimately chooses. “I have said I am the most suitable, but in case my colleagues see otherwise, whoever is agreed on has my support,” he said. That formulation — I am the best man, but I will step aside — is one Kenya’s opposition has heard before.
The field is crowded. Kalonzo Musyoka has formally launched his presidential platform. Jubilee deputy party leader Fred Matiang’i, People’s Liberation Party leader Martha Karua and former Chief Justice David Maraga have all signalled interest. Gachagua’s own eligibility remains uncertain, with his appeal against the High Court ruling upholding his impeachment still before the courts.
The real test comes not at an airport press conference, but at the negotiating table — when the lunch he speaks of so casually must actually produce a name.
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