By Anderson Ojwang
Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Dr Fred Matiangi has linked President William Ruto’s government to the Titanic ship.
Matiangi, a former Internal Security Cabinet Secretary, predicted that President Ruto’s regime may sink the way the Titanic ship sank in the North Atlantic Ocean several decades ago.
The RMS Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City after striking an iceberg. Considered “unsinkable,” the disaster killed over 1,500 of the 2,240 passengers and crew, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters.
“This government is like those people who were sitting on the Titanic, drinking wine on the deck, dancing with their girlfriends, and the ship sank. And you will sink with your girlfriends, wine and everything. You will sink. I am telling you. We are playing with the country. Let us tell our leaders. We are playing with the country,” he said.
Matiangi also warned that the government was radicalising the country to a point where it would not be able to control it.
“The anger down below with the people. Fellow leaders, you meet with the public more often. If you listen to the public carefully at gatherings. Two weeks ago, I was in the Coast region talking to leaders. As a leader, what you hear the public say makes you ask yourself, do our leaders know this?” he said.
Speaking at a church function in Othaya in Nyeri County, Matiangi said the bravado currently being witnessed in the regime could be their Waterloo in the next general elections.
“Let me say something ordinarily I would not say because the press is here. If I was advising this government, you are radicalising this country to a point you will not be able to control it.
Let me say this in public. Our former Director of Intelligence, retired Philip Kameru, used to tell us at security meetings that we do not have bullets for 55 million Kenyans.
You people who have responsibility must find a way of finding solutions by talking to Kenyans, even when they are in the opposition.
Because we do not want to destroy our country. That is why my first point today is to advise our leaders. You might be very happy today, thinking you are so powerful.
You have witnessed the bravado everywhere. The use of choppers and chest-thumping everywhere. We had by-elections. We were being told at the by-elections that we would rig the elections. I want to be very honest with you. One day, you will be shocked when you will be looking for an aeroplane to escape,” he said.
Matiangi called for opposition unity, saying the focus was to fix the nation.
“From the bottom of my heart, my brothers and sisters, our country is where it is currently. We must unite. There is a strategy that has been used to divide the opposition for a long time. Kenyans want a united opposition. The need and demand of our people are bigger, stronger and even more forceful than the needs and ambitions of individual leaders,” he said.
Matiangi said opposition leaders must be ready to sacrifice their political ambitions for the betterment of the nation.
“If you really love your country, it is not a must that Kalonzo Musyoka must be president, or Fred Matiangi, or that it must be Rigathi Gachagua or Martha Karua. At this situation, we must reclaim our country. We must avoid anything that will divide us,” he said.
Recently, President William Ruto exuded confidence, saying that in 2027 he will win the presidential election by a margin of 2–3 million votes.
“As we talk today, we have a broad-based government. We had a problem, but we agreed that in any challenge there is a silver lining. We created an opportunity out of it. We have an arrangement with our brothers in the ODM and it has worked for us. Do we fix it when it is working?
What we have agreed with the leadership of ODM is to have a coalition going into the election. This is because we want to broaden our base.
In the coming election, we want to win by a margin of 2–3 million votes. In the last general election, we won by a margin of 200,000.
I am very clear in my mind. There is a reason to consolidate the country, and from the position where I sit, there is enough for everyone,”*he said.
ODM and UDA have mandated their party leadership, Dr Oburu Oginga and President Ruto respectively, to engage in a pre-election pact agreement.
Yesterday, the United Opposition team was in Othaya to drum up support for the coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
