Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) leader Eugene Wamalwa has slammed the broad-based government over the empowerment programmes across the country.

Speaking during an interview by K24 TV on Monday, July 28, 2025, Wamalwa said that the empowerment programmes were an indication that the government had failed to lower the cost of living as they had promised.

“This government has failed on its promise to lower the cost of living in the country, and now is engaged in what they call economic empowerment,” Wamalwa said.

Resorted to violence

Wamalwa remarked that the state had resorted to using violence on opposition leaders for calling it out on the empowerment programmes, which have drawn a sharp scrutiny after a section of residents of Kisii County lamented the amounts of money shared.

“They are irked when we point out these failures, and now they are using the police to stop us from going to every County to tell citizens not to elect President William Ruto a second time,” Wamalwa noted.

He equally decried the recent arrest and charging of protesters with terrorism, noting that the drafters of the law of Kenya did not intend that the law be used on innocent citizens exercising their Chapter 37 right to protest.

Terrorism charges

“We are concerned about the recent labelling of protesters as terrorists by this regime. Not only have the youth been targeted by this government, but also the civil society organisations, who have equally been subjected to terrorism charges. Ruto has become a great threat to our democracy,” Wamalwa stated.

“We want Ruto out because we deserve a government that holds its end of the bargain and delivers on its promises. The politics of deceit must end, and for that to end, Ruto must be a one-term president.”

This comes after he led a section of opposition leaders to the offices of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to report a case where vehicles belonging to opposition leaders were shot at and damaged during a standoff with police in Kigumo on Sunday, July 27, 2025.

“The police are being used to intimidate, harass, and intimidate the opposition so that they are not able to go across the country selling their one-term agenda or whatever manifesto they believe in,” Wamalwa said.