Kalonzo weighs in as Ruto-Gachagua clash spills into late governor’s will row.

Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday night, Kalonzo said leaders should conduct thorough due diligence before picking deputies, arguing that it is inconsistent to campaign on one ticket and later make damaging claims without evidence.

“I think that it is important, even before you pick your running mate, to be able to ask yourself a question… You cannot then, after you have gone through, elected on one ticket, then turn around years later and say your deputy was a murderer and you cannot prove it,” Kalonzo said.

He argued that the President should be properly briefed before making statements that could unfairly tarnish a political opponent’s reputation, warning that remarks aimed at “besmirching” a former deputy’s character for political reasons undermine the standard expected of a Head of State.

“I must tell William that, in law, when you are dealing with people’s wills, one can die intestate or after writing a will. This president has not been properly briefed,” he said.

Kalonzo claimed that revisiting such allegations a decade later was wrong, and urged restraint in political discourse.

“Ten years later, for political reasons, you want now to besmirch the character of your former DP. I think there is a gap in briefing because a head of state should be properly briefed before he utters some of these things,” he added.

Kalonzo’s remarks come against the backdrop of a widening political rift between Ruto and Gachagua that has increasingly drawn in personal and family issues.

Gachagua, now the leader of the Democracy for the Citizen Party (DCP), recently told the President to keep off his family affairs following an appeal by the family of the late Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua for the President’s intervention over claims of a forged will and alleged intermeddling in the estate.

Led by the late governor’s widow Margaret Nyokabi Nderitu, the family asked President Ruto to order an independent probe into the allegations.

The appeal came days after President Ruto, during a public outburst, accused Gachagua of calling him a thief while allegedly having stolen from his own brother — claims that have heightened tensions between the two.

While touring Kirinyaga County, Gachagua warned the Head of State against interfering in his family matters and urged him to focus on his own affairs.

“Amesahau mambo ya Kenya anaingilia mambo ya familia ya Gachagua… Ameshindwa kugawanya mlima, anafikiria atagawanya familia ya Gachagua? Wewe William Ruto, ukona familia yenu ya Kalenjin, kuenda ongea mambo ya familia yenu, usiingilie mambo ya familia yangu hapa milimani,” Gachagua said.

Gachagua has also been using his regional tours to popularise the DCP party and rally Mt Kenya residents to reject leaders aligned with the ruling administration ahead of the next general election.