Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu has dismissed growing calls for him to resign from the United Democratic Alliance and seek a fresh mandate under former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party, stressing that he is in no hurry to leave the ruling party.
Speaking on Monday, January 5, Nyutu said he remains a UDA member and will only exit the party on his own terms, despite his open political alignment with Gachagua and his increasingly sharp criticism of President William Ruto’s administration.
“I am still a member of UDA and I shall remain there until I decide to leave. I will leave UDA when I want,” the senator said.
Nyutu, who was elected to the Senate on a UDA ticket, maintained that it is only fair that neither the party nor President Ruto can have him kicked out simply because of political differences. He said that his case is no different from that of President Ruto when he fell out with the then President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2018.
While this pressure was immense, Ruto did not leave the Jubilee Party to join Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto: Information minister Kentike launched a fresh attack on the second in command.
“William Ruto has no moral authority to tell anybody to leave UDA. When he differed with Uhuru Kenyatta, everybody was telling him to leave Jubilee, but he refused,” Nyutu said.
The senator explained that his break with the Kenya Kwanza administration came after he felt the government had strayed from the promises made to voters during the 2022 campaign. Since then, he has emerged as one of the loudest critics of the President from within the ruling party’s ranks.
The loyalty debate within UDA has also exposed cracks among Gachagua’s allies. Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba recently took issue with leaders who support the former Deputy President when they have not defected to the DCP.
Wamuchomba, initially perceived to be sympathetic to Gachagua’s camp, later retreated from the opposition leader. She declared she would remain in UDA up until 2027 and called on Gachagua’s allies to either wholly commit to his new party or stop straddling the sides.
With political realignments that are currently underway in preparation for the upcoming election cycle, Nyutu’s defiance underlines the developing tension within UDA and also how party loyalty and changing political alliances uneasily coexist.
