Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) leader Eugene Wamalwa has claimed that retired President Uhuru Kenyatta reached a point where he regretted settling on William Ruto as his deputy instead of him.

Speaking during an interview on Herman Manyora’s podcast aired on Friday, May 16, 2026, the former defence cabinet secretary stated that during Uhuru’s second term in office, the former president began regretting his decision to pick Ruto as his running mate.

Eugene Wamalwa said, “When we used to take uji with Uhuru Kenyatta when he was President, he used to tell me he wished he had selected me as his deputy because he would not have gone through the stress he was experiencing then with Ruto.”

Wamalwa dropped

Wamalwa explained that back in 2012, the original plan was for him to deputise Uhuru Kenyatta in the general election. However, after a High Court ruling allowed Uhuru and Ruto to contest for the presidency despite their pending cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the political equation changed.

According to Wamalwa, Ruto argued that he should become Uhuru’s running mate so that the two leaders could face the ICC cases together while still pursuing the presidency. It was at that point, Wamalwa claimed, that he was dropped from the deputy president position and Ruto was picked instead.

Uhuru-Ruto fallout

The DAP-K leader further narrated that after Uhuru’s fallout with his deputy during the second term, the former president admitted that he wished he had stuck with the original plan of having Wamalwa as his deputy.

Wamalwa maintained that had he been given the deputy president slot, he would have given Uhuru a peaceful tenure and would not have undermined him the way he claimed Ruto did.

He further argued that some of the accusations currently being levelled against Rigathi Gachagua, which contributed to his impeachment, were minor compared to what he claimed Ruto did to Uhuru during their fallout in government.

“The things that Ruto accused Gachagua of during his impeachment, he did worse to Uhuru when he was his deputy,” Wamalwa said.