Gachagua: To restore Kenya’s education, Ruto must go
By Aloys Michael, July 27, 2025Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua delivered a stinging rebuke of President William Ruto’s education policies during a town hall meeting with Kenyan professionals in the U.S., accusing the Head of State of crippling access to basic and higher education for underprivileged children.
“Education is the greatest equaliser, and President William Ruto is destroying the education system to restore it and secure the future of our children. William Ruto must go,” he said on Sunday, July 27, 2025.
“All of you who are here have been through school, and for you to get a job here, you must have some papers. There is nobody who understands and who appreciates the value of education more than the group seated in this room.”
Gachagua, who is currently on an official tour of the United States, warned that recent budget cuts to education, particularly the scaling down of free primary and secondary education funds, were jeopardising the future of millions of Kenyan children.
“William Ruto has interfered with education and with the drone funds for free primary and secondary education, which means that children from less fortunate members of the society will have no access to education,” he said.
He reminded the audience, largely composed of Kenyan professionals working in the U.S. in various sectors, that many of them were direct beneficiaries of robust public education programs in Kenya.
“Most of you, when I look at your age, are great beneficiaries of free primary education. When you look at our universities, most of you went to Kenyan universities and are beneficiaries of Higher Education Loan (HELB) support that was working,” he noted.
In a rare open criticism of the president, Gachagua condemned Ruto’s rollout of a new education financing model, which he claimed was dysfunctional and exclusionary.
“William Ruto has destroyed it and brought some model of some financing model that is not working, and more students are at home. For us to restore the education system and make sure that the future of our children is secured, William Ruto must go,” the DCP Party chief declared.