Kang’ata breaks with UDA, joins Linda Mwananchi in Thika to attack Ruto government
Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang'ata yesterday at a Linda Mwananchi rally in Thika
Murang’a governor’s appearance alongside opposition leaders signals a widening rift within Kenya Kwanza’s Mt Kenya base ahead of 2027
By MKT Reporter
Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata yesterday appeared at a Linda Mwananchi rally in Thika, Kiambu County, where he stood alongside opposition leaders who renewed their attacks on President William Ruto’s administration and declared that his time in office was drawing to a close.
The rally, part of an ongoing countrywide tour by the Linda Mwananchi movement, was briefly disrupted when a group of youths attempted to push their way to the podium. Organisers and security personnel intervened quickly, and the leaders pressed on, insisting that no amount of intimidation would derail their tour of the country.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino was the first to address the crowd, calming tensions and pledging that the gathering would proceed without interruption. “This rally will not be disrupted,” he said. “We have held peaceful rallies across the whole of Kenya, and you will not disrupt this one.”
Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi used his remarks to respond to earlier warnings from government allies that the opposition should avoid holding rallies in the Mt Kenya region. He said the movement would continue to take its message to every part of the country, including the President’s own backyard in Uasin Gishu. “We were told that only ‘Wantam’ people are wanted here,” Mr Osotsi said. “We tell them, shame on you. Even in Sugoi we will go, and no one will frighten us.” He added that the tour would conclude in Nairobi in September.
Siaya Governor James Orengo, describing himself as the most senior politician in the country, told the crowd that President Ruto had lost support across Kenya and stood no chance of re-election. “We know Kasongo has no votes,” Mr Orengo said, using a nickname commonly applied to the President by his critics. “He has no votes in Kisumu, in Nakuru, in Thika, in Mombasa, or in Mandera. Our job now is to send him home.” Mr Orengo went further, telling the gathering that Mr Ruto remained the country’s central problem and that Mr Kang’ata’s presence at the rally was itself evidence that the President’s political standing was collapsing. “Ruto is the problem,” he said. “I have fought political battles with this man Kang’ata. When I saw him here today, I knew that Kasongo is finished. Kasongo is going home.”
For his part, Mr Kang’ata used his address to call for national unity, telling the crowd that the Linda Mwananchi movement was open to Kenyans of all backgrounds. “I believe Kenya is one nation,” he said. “Whether you are Kisii or Luo, we are one people, and Linda Mwananchi belongs to everyone.”
He then turned to the economic record of the Kenya Kwanza administration, accusing the government of presiding over the collapse of industry in the Mt Kenya region and questioning its spending priorities, particularly the contested housing levy. “I have looked at the policies needed to move this country forward, and they involve building factories,” Mr Kang’ata said. “This government has destroyed factories across Mt Kenya. The major achievement of this administration has been to build houses. Who here owns one of those houses? That housing levy money should instead go to schools, and education should be free.”
The Murang’a governor also called for the national government to return healthcare funding to county administrations, arguing that devolution remained the most effective means of delivering services to ordinary Kenyans. “We want the government to return healthcare money to the counties,” he said.
In a further sign of the coalition-building under way within the opposition, Mr Kang’ata revealed that he had urged Mr Sifuna, Mr Owino and Mr Orengo to reach out to Democratic Change Party leader Rigathi Gachagua, referring to him by his clan name, Wamunyoro. “I told Sifuna, Babu and Orengo to seek out Wamunyoro,” he said, adding that his motivation was straightforward. “I only want a better Kenya. Our people need better healthcare and better education.”
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna closed the rally on a defiant note, mocking suggestions that the opposition would be unable to hold a rally in Thika. “They said we would not reach Thika,” he told the crowd. “Here we are.” He challenged the President to demonstrate where his remaining political support lay, arguing that Kenyans had broadly turned against him. “We want to ask: where is Ruto’s vote, when all of Kenya has rejected him?” Mr Sifuna also outlined what he described as an early priority should the opposition take power, telling the rally that cuts to the State House budget would come first. “When we take over government, the first thing we will cut is the State House budget,” he said, adding that the movement intended to keep pressure on the President rather than ease it. “As Linda Mwananchi, we will not open the door for Mr Ruto to leave, because Kenyans have already cornered him.” Mr Sifuna ended by addressing Mr Kang’ata directly, embracing the “Wantam” label that has become shorthand for the opposition’s campaign to limit the President to a single term. “Mr Kang’ata, I want to assure you that we have no problem with people calling us Wantam, because we are Wantam,” he said.
Mr Kang’ata’s appearance marks one of the most visible defections from the ruling UDA party within the Mt Kenya region since President Ruto took office, and adds a sitting governor’s voice to a movement that has so far drawn its energy largely from opposition strongholds in Nyanza, western Kenya and Nairobi. His remarks linking the Linda Mwananchi tour to overtures towards Mr Gachagua’s DCP point to an emerging effort to consolidate anti-government sentiment in Mt Kenya under a single political banner ahead of 2027, though it remains to be seen how far other UDA-aligned leaders in the region will follow his lead.
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