President Ruto fails to address cracks within UDA party

Alongside his deputy; Rigathi Gachagua who is at the core of the storm, President William Ruto led the National Prayer breakfast in Nairobi on Thursday, avoiding the growing division within the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

Since the President departed for his state visit to the US, this was the first time the two leaders have shared a platform in public. “All Kenyans were monitoring what you were doing there. There is something you were doing there that brought many problems to many husbands in the country. Our spouses, led by mine, were demanding that we emulate the president and hold their hand wherever we go,” Gachagua said in his address.
The Deputy President’s words appeared to have defused an otherwise heated situation at the prayer service, which coincides with rumours of division within the ruling party UDA. The President chose to preach about unity instead of discussing the conflict.

Within UDA, there seem to be two competing camps beginning to establish divisions. One appears to be aligned with the Deputy President, while the other appears to be against him. The DP has linked both to young, rift valley politicians surrounding the President.National Assembly Deputy Speaker Sylvanus Osoro continued, “There is no disunity in the ruling coalition in fact, if you read our constitution it states that we must accept criticism that is constructive.”
Cleophas Malala, the secretary general of the UDA party, had similar views, seeing the recent debates as a symbol of democracy.

This year’s interdenominational prayer meeting was centred around the topic of hope. President Ruto urged leaders to work together to solve the nation’s impending problems, even as he acknowledged the importance of prayer in achieving the nation’s milestones.

“We are still working to rebuild our economy and deal with the national debt. We are honored to be leading Kenya at this time, and we are aware of the difficulties and what needs to be done to allow us to have the courage to do the right thing no matter how difficult it is”, said Ruto.