Gachagua: Ruto has failed Kenyans and abandoned campaign pledges
Key points
- DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua accused President William Ruto of failing Kenyans and abandoning campaign promises at an 11 August 2026 scorecard briefing.
- He alleged betrayal of public trust and of development foundations built under blueprints such as Vision 2030.
- He claimed pledges on rule of law, police professionalisation, human rights and justice accountability had been abandoned.
- He alleged goonism, drug abuse, extrajudicial killings and abductions; and said Coroners Service Act 2017 reforms to free death probes from regular police/DCI conflicts were not delivered.
“Four years later, Mr. William Ruto has betrayed the trust bestowed on him by the people of Kenya,” Democracy for Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua said at DCP headquarters on 11 August 2026, delivering a four-year scorecard attack reported by The Standard.
Gachagua accused the president of eroding multiparty democratic gains and “swallowing” opposition parties. He said Ruto had promised a secure, just and democratic Kenya founded on the Constitution — and then abandoned those promises, including professionalising the National Police Service, safeguarding human rights and making security agencies accountable.
Security, deaths and the Coroner’s office that never came
He alleged Kenya Kwanza allowed goonism and drug abuse to thrive and turned the country into a “bedrock of extrajudicial killings and an abductors playground.” On campaign pledges, he said they had promised to amend and operationalise the National Coroners Service Act of 2017 to establish a Coroner General’s office, moving death investigations away from regular police and DCI channels to cut conflicts of interest. That reform, he argued, remains undelivered while families still face opaque police-led probes.
Politics desk: Politics. Related: 2027 elections hub. Verified venue, date and claim themes from The Standard; government counter-brief was not in the same package.
State House and security chiefs will either rebut with case lists or leave Gachagua’s charge sheet to dominate opposition media. Voters will weigh four years of roads and levies against the abduction and goonism language that still fills opposition rallies.
A scorecard is not a court file — but it sets the frame for every 2027 debate that follows.
Opposition allies will recycle the Coroners Act gap as proof of security capture. Government spokespeople need case-by-case rebuttals, not only growth statistics, if they want to reclaim the four-year narrative into 2027.
Based on The Standard reporting (Fred Kagonye, 11 August 2026). Allegations are political claims unless proven in court.
