{"id":130702,"date":"2026-02-11T14:03:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/president-ruto-dismisses-gachaguas-al-shabaab-meeting-claims-as-baseless\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:03:03","slug":"president-ruto-dismisses-gachaguas-al-shabaab-meeting-claims-as-baseless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/president-ruto-dismisses-gachaguas-al-shabaab-meeting-claims-as-baseless\/","title":{"rendered":"President Ruto Dismisses Gachagua\u2019s Al-Shabaab meeting Claims as \u2018Baseless\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 11- President William Ruto has strongly refuted allegations by leaders of the United Opposition that he conducted clandestine meetings with Al-Shabaab operatives during his recent visit to the Northeastern region<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Addressing residents, the Head of State dismissed the claims as baseless and politically motivated, accusing his critics of peddling divisive narratives aimed at undermining his administration\u2019s development agenda. <\/p>\n

He insisted that his government remains focused on fostering unity and accelerating progress across all parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the United Opposition intends to achieve. When I visited this region, they alleged that I had come to meet Al-Shabaab. I want to assure the people of northern Kenya that we are walking this journey together,\u201d Ruto said.<\/p>\n

The President emphasized that his tours of the region are centered on economic empowerment, infrastructure expansion, and improved public services not the political gamesmanship he attributes to his rivals.<\/p>\n

President \u00a0Ruto criticized unnamed rivals as \u201cplanless,\u201d \u201cbrainless,\u201d and \u201cidle\u201d politicians.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the launch of the Nyota youth empowerment programme in Garissa, President Ruto said he would not apologise for focusing on young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone telling me to do other work is an idler,\u201d Ruto said. \u201cI am here to work for young people, not to listen to lectures from people who have no plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without naming names, President Ruto accused rival politicians of lacking ideas and using young people only for political gain, in what appeared as a veiled attack to his former deputy turned foe Rigathi Gachagua.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow planless, brainless, clueless politicians to misuse our youth as goons or bloggers for their own politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to President Ruto, past governments failed because they had no clear plan to absorb the millions of young people leaving schools and colleges every year.<\/p>\n

He said his administration is different because it is \u201cintentional\u201d and \u201cdeliberate\u201d about job creation.<\/p>\n

He pointed to Nyota, digital jobs, labour export programmes, and affordable housing as proof that his government has a working strategy for youth empowerment.<\/p>\n

President Ruto also used the Garissa event to push back against claims that Northern Kenya is receiving special treatment.<\/p>\n

He said such criticism is rooted in discrimination and outdated thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no second-class citizens in Kenya,\u201d he said, adding that profiling entire regions on citizenship is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Last year August, \u00a0Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has challenged former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to record a formal statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over his recent allegations linking President William Ruto\u2019s administration to terror groups.<\/p>\n

Murkomen said the claims made by Gachagua during an ongoing tour of the United States \u00a0were too grave to be treated casually and should be documented for investigation by both local and international agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf and I insist \u00a0the former deputy president has any information that is worth consideration not just by local, but also international institutions, he must record it with the DCI as soon as he arrives in the country so that we can take him seriously,\u201d Murkomen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil then, we will just consider it part of his continuous comedy and caricature that he has become.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a blistering rebuttal, the Interior CS accused Gachagua of engaging in attention-seeking antics abroad, dismissing his visits to technology firms and amusement parks as mere tourism disguised as high-level engagements.<\/p>\n

Murkomen went further, questioning Gachagua\u2019s mental fitness, saying his statements showed \u201ca level of contradictions\u201d that could only be attributed to \u201ceither being a pathological liar or a mental case that needs treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged those close to the former deputy president to help him seek medical assistance, stressing that mental health is vital for anyone in public service.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no longer a joke. Many of you share TikTok posts of his messages, encouraging a person who is unwell to continue saying more things that will hurt our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 11- President William Ruto has strongly refuted allegations by leaders of the United Opposition that he conducted clandestine meetings with Al-Shabaab operatives during his recent visit to the Northeastern region. Addressing residents, the Head of State dismissed the claims as baseless and politically motivated, accusing his critics of peddling divisive narratives aimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}