Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has urged his Mount Kenya backyard to rally behind any candidate who will be fronted by the united opposition.

While speaking in Nyandarua during a church service on Sunday, September 7, 2025, he called upon Mt Kenya locals to vote for any candidate the united opposition will settle on.

According to Gachagua, even if it’s not him being the flagbearer of the opposition, his community should not be worried but just vote for the leader, since he is also part of it, but in the event he is given the ticket, he will make sure President Ruto is a one-term president.

With the united opposition having held a series of meetings in the recent past, he stated that as coalition principals who are also interested in the top seat, they have decided that at the right time, they will settle on one candidate and shelve their personal ambitions, with the rest throwing their weight behind the chosen candidate.

“Natumekubaliana tutatoa candidate mmoja; tukisikizana ni Kalonzo, simtapigia yeye kura; tukisikizana ni Matiang’i, simtampigia kura; Eugene, Martha Karua na mimi pia simtatupigia kura.”

Defending Mukhisa’s appointment

This comes at a time when the coalition is set to announce its flag bearer, the coalition name, and coalition symbols as they plan to face Ruto in the 2027 polls.

Rigathi Gachagua has also come out to clap back at his deputy party leader, Cleophas Malala, who came out to protest over the selection of former UNCTAD Chair Mukhisa Kituyi as the United Opposition’s spokesman.

While speaking during a church service in Nyandarua on Sunday, September 7, 2025, Gachagua defended Mukhisa Kituyi’s selection while at the same time acknowledging Malala’s worries and demands, who had wanted the slot to be given to a person who is young.

He stated that the coalition secretariat is filled with young people who are doing an excellent job and that they, as a coalition that values the input of the younger generation, have decided to also include a person from the older generation, such as Mukhisa, who has vast political experience, to aid the younger ones in shaping the coalition.