Ruto orders ceasefire amid bitter political exchanges

President William Ruto attending an interdenominational church service in Chesombur, West Pokot County, on January 4, 2026. [PCS]

President William Ruto has called for a ceasefire amid bitter verbal exchanges between various politicians, warning that it risks sowing seeds of disunity among their supporters as political temperatures continue to rise ahead of next year’s elections.

Instead, the president wants the elected leaders and others seeking political seats to prioritise unity calls.

He spoke in Chesombur, West Pokot County, during an interdenominational church service on Sunday, January 4.

“Let’s end this anger. I see a leader pointing an accusing finger at the other, while another wants to gouge out the other’s eyes. An eye for an eye makes us all blind,” said President Ruto.

“Let us stop this politics of hate and anger that divides Kenya. We should look for a formula to unite them.”

The sentiments come on the back of fiery public spats between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed over the late Raila Odinga’s defeat in the 2022 presidential run.

Sifuna, while attending the burial of the Embakasi North James Gakuya’s mother in Murang’a yesterday, alleged that Junet mismanaged funds earmarked for the procurement of Odinga’s agents, thus jeorpadising efforts to secure their party leader’s votes.

“You pocketed Uhuru’s (Kenyatta) money instead of using it to pay the agents and let Wamunyoro (Rigathi Gachagua) camp beat us. We are now out in the cold. If not for you, Junet, we would have formed the government,” claimed Sifuna.

However, Junet, who is the MP for Suna East, dismissed claims by the Nairobi Senator, insisting that former President Uhuru Kenyatta sabotaged Odinga in what he termed a long con, despite public declarations of support.

According to him, Mr Kenyatta chose to release the said funds to his brother Muhoho Kenyatta and not the Azimio coalition structures.

“I call upon Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta, Patrick Mburu, and Senator Edwin Sifuna to come clean. Kenyans deserve the truth about the handling of agents’ money; who controlled it, who mishandled it, and then decide who cost us the election,” said Junet.

ODM, a broad-based government partner with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), is facing an internal fallout after it emerged that the outfit is in talks that could see it support Ruto’s re-election bid in 2027.

While Junet has aligned with the faction supporting party leader Oburu Oginga and the president, Sifuna leans towards the faction opposed to a union with the government.

Each faction has accused the other of auctioning the party to Ruto or Kenyatta.

At the same time, a battle for the control of the vote-rich Central region has a rivalry between former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria.