'Sheer waste of public resources': Gachagua slams Ruto's New York entourage

• Addressing Kenyans in the diaspora in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday evening, Gachagua said all Cabinet ministers had travelled for the assembly, singling out those drawn from ODM.

Addressing Kenyans in the diaspora in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday evening, Gachagua said all Cabinet ministers had travelled for the assembly, singling out those drawn from ODM.

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has criticised President William Ruto over the size of his delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, claiming more than 500 people accompanied him at public expense.

Addressing Kenyans in the diaspora in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday evening, Gachagua said all Cabinet ministers had travelled for the assembly, singling out those drawn from ODM.

"He brought a delegation of over 500 people to New York, on public expense. Sheer wasting of public resources," Gachagua said.

He said such spending was the reason Kenyans were demanding that the opposition unite behind a single candidate against Ruto in 2027.

The former Deputy President pledged to unconditionally support whoever emerges as the United Opposition's presidential candidate, and challenged his fellow aspirants to make a similar public commitment.

"Me, as Rigathi, I want to give you my commitment. If it's not me, I'll support whoever it is unconditionally," he said.

He urged his colleagues in the opposition to direct their supporters to stop making statements suggesting they would back Ruto if their preferred aspirant missed the ticket.

"I'm asking my colleagues in the United Opposition to give clear direction to their supporters, to also pronounce themselves that they will support whoever is agreed on," Gachagua said.

He warned that any aspirant attaching conditions to the pact was not genuine about the push for a single presidential candidate, adding that some of his partners had been "a little bit slippery."

Gachagua listed Kalonzo Musyoka, Fred Matiang'i, Martha Karua and Eugene Wamalwa among the aspirants he said Kenyans would accept, arguing that voters had already settled on who they did not want and were waiting for the opposition to present a candidate.

"Kenyans are telling us, we don't know whom we want, but we know whom we don't want," he said, adding that gender and age were immaterial to voters as long as the candidate was above 18 years.

He claimed a scientific poll he had commissioned placed Ruto's approval at 17 per cent, saying the figure could only worsen for a sitting president.

Gachagua said the opposition's choice of a flagbearer would be guided by practicality and cost-effectiveness rather than prejudice or past alliances, citing his political experience.

"This will be my seventh presidential election. I've never lost an election," he said.