Gachagua brushes off Raila’s plan to collect signatures to remove Ruto from office
By Mary Ouko, July 8, 2023
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has shrugged off opposition leader Raila Odinga’s signature collection drive aimed at removing President William Ruto from office.
Speaking during a burial ceremony in Giatiuu villa in Mathira constituency on Saturday, July 8, 2023, the DP asserted that the move by the opposition was a pipe dream that would never mature.
He insisted that the opposition should instead focus on preparing themselves for the next General Election.
“Elections were won and lost, they must move on, the truth of the matter is that William Ruto is the President of Kenya and nothing can change that fact. Even if they collect 10 million signatures where will they take those signatures to?
“Elections are not decided by signatures. They are decided on the ballot, a specific date was set for that purpose 9th of August 2022 and people signed and that was the end of signatures until after five years. What they should be doing is preparing themselves for the next contest,” Gachagua stated.
While referring to the former premier as a failed ‘project’ the DP claimed that all planned demonstrations will fail terribly since there is no constitutional provision for the exercise.
“They are saying they will remove Ruto from power. How will they if they failed when he was not in power. There is no constitutional provision for the collection of signatures,” the DP added.
Raila had on Friday, July 7, 2023, launched a signature collection to impeach the president.
At the time, the opposition leader announced that the faction was targeting 10 million signatures by Friday, July 14, 2023.
Raila stated that the coalition arrived at the decision due to the State’s failure to address their grievances such as the high cost of living, additional taxes that are burdening taxpayers’, biased recruitment of electoral commissioners and electoral fraud.
“Ruto is imposing taxes without our consent and implementing laws that only make our lives more difficult. We cannot tolerate the current state of taxation and its accompanying injustices any longer,” Raila stated.