Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has resigned from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party.
In a statement on Monday, May 12, Gachagua accused the ruling party of betraying the hopes of Kenyans and abandoning the promises that propelled it to power.
He said the UDA, once a symbol of hope, had now become the most dangerous political movement for Kenyans, adding that it is unfit to govern the country.
"By a copy of this letter, you are notified that I have officially resigned from the UDA Party with immediate effect. I have made this decision in knowledge of the ideals of the Party we believed in and so were millions of Kenyans, but now it has turned out as the most dangerous political moment for the people and the Republic of Kenya in the retrogressive philosophy of an unfit class to govern our Nation. The party has exhausted and wasted a Kenyan moment to take off economically, socially, and politically," he said.
Gachagua cited a wide array of grievances, asserting that the party's flagship Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda had become an empty slogan.
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He criticised the Hustler Fund initiative, which he said had offered little more than tokenism to struggling Kenyans.
"We promised to lift Kenyans from the bottom of the economic pyramid; this was an inclusive economic model that millions of Kenyans believed in. We signed economic charters with all the counties and various professional bodies. It is, however, disturbing that the Kenya Kwanza rogue Administration is still searching for these charters on their dusty shelves.
"The Hustler Fund: the dream for the Hustler Fund, as it were, was to lift Kenyans at the bottom of the economic pyramid. What business can Kshs. 500 start sustainably?" he asked.
Gachagua further lamented the deterioration of key sectors central to the party’s economic plan, claiming that agriculture, housing, healthcare, and the digital economy had been turned into avenues of corruption.
On housing, the former DP said the administration had turned the dream of affordable homes into a punitive tax burden on workers, eroding their hard-earned incomes.
Gachagua also criticized the state of the healthcare system, calling it a failed business venture with no commitment to affordable healthcare.
"Under this helpless regime of UDA/Kenya Kwanza, the healthcare system has collapsed. The failed healthcare system under the SHA ideology is a business venture, under a few bureaucrats in the Kenya Kwanza Administration.
"Yet we had promised the people of Kenya, as a party, we would have had them under safe and affordable healthcare by December of 2022. As a party, we had a commitment to Universal Health Coverage," he continued.
Gachagua equally criticized the state of the economy, warning that Kenya had become a begging nation due to reckless borrowing.
Additionally, he did not spare the ICT and digital economy sector, accusing the government of failing to reduce data and call costs, denying youth the opportunity to thrive in the digital space.
In sports, Gachagua accused the government of neglecting sportsmen and women who have long brought honor to Kenya on the global stage.
He also criticized the government's environmental agenda, which he labeled a '15 Billion-Tree Slogan International Corruption Scandal,' suggesting that environmental pledges had been converted into avenues of profiteering.
Turning to education, Gachagua accused the UDA of delivering a failed CBC curriculum and a corrupt university funding model.
"We committed as a Coalition/Party to "to address the inequities in our education system so as to level the playing field for all children irrespective of their background. We further commit to equitable universal basic education defined as 12 years of schooling."
"The UDA party is delivering a failed CBC curriculum, an incoherent and corrupt university funding model. No Kenyan child or parent is safe under this planned failure. Why is the future of our nation being tested through a bad system from the start?" he posed.
On the social agenda, Gachagua accused the government of neglecting women's rights, including the failure to provide sanitary towels and protect women from gender-based violence.
He went further to accuse the UDA leadership of abandoning the elderly, orphans, and the vulnerable, betraying promises on social protection and universal pensions.
Additionally, Gachagua noted that the current regime does not respect the constitution, and it has also disregarded devolution.
The former DP also said Kenya's foreign relations had suffered under the current government due to poor diplomacy.
"We had a commitment to make "Kenya a respected and a valued country abroad by promoting friendly relations with our neighbors". We are now embroiled in conflicts and international shame with our friendly nations due to bad diplomacy," he said.
Gachagua concluded by noting that he is resigning from the party because it has turned out to be the worst enemy to Kenyans, and it does not listen to them.
"Reconciling with my conscience, the party that we founded on principles of good governance, has now turned out to be the worst enemy to the people of the Republic of Kenya, to the future of our nation, to the sovereignty of our country, and to the contempt of our constitution.
"It is my patriotic duty as a Kenyan believing ni the rule of law and millions of others who do so, ni the sanctity of our constitution and respecting our fore fathers and freedom fighters in the cause for our great nation that I tender my resignation from a party that does not listen to its people, the people of the Republic of Kenya," he said.
