At 6.30am on Sunday, September 13, at the entrance of the Kisumu Shipyard, a long queue of people made their way into the venue for President William Ruto’s engagement with grassroots leaders.
Inside the facility, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) supplied attendees with yellow caps emblazoned with the slogan “Round Ni Mbili”, an unmistakable nod to the President’s second term.
For a while, yellow dominated the venue. Then the orange arrived. Men carrying sacks of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)-branded caps began distributing them among the crowd. Within minutes, the political landscape inside the venue had changed.
The question was whether Nyanza was beginning to shift politically, or whether this was simply the choreography of a presidential visit.
Kisii Governor and ODM Deputy party leader Simba Arati speaks during President William Ruto’s visit to Nyamasaria, where residents gathered to hear about Government development projects on September 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation
“I am asking those waving the UDA caps here to lower them. As the Deputy Party Leader, I want to tell you that here in Nyanza we must remain in ODM to be respected. We have told Ruto that we also demand 50-50 sharing of government,” said Mr Arati.
It was more than a statement. It was a declaration of political territory and a reminder that the handshake that birthed the broad-based government had not erased the identities of the parties within it.
The following day, the contest moved from the Shipyard to the streets of Kisumu.
As President Ruto’s convoy snaked through the city, yellow caps were conspicuous among the crowds lining the route. From the Kisumu-Nairobi Road around Kachok and Nyamasaria, UDA colours appeared to command prominent visibility.
The spectacle quickly drew commentary on social media, with some observers suggesting that the President’s yellow was beginning to drown ODM’s traditional orange in the heart of Kisumu.
Then, on Tuesday, the political theatre moved to Siaya. Here, colour became a language of its own. President Ruto removed the black cap he had worn earlier in Dhogoye, Bondo and replaced it with an ODM-branded orange cap.
The location was significant. Siaya is the political home of ODM and the backyard of Governor James Orengo, one of the most vocal critics of the President’s political arrangements in Nyanza and an associate of the Linda Mwananchi movement.
President William Ruto addresses members of public in Migori town.
Photo credit: PCS
Wearing orange, Dr Ruto launched a political broadside against the governor.
“I am telling Orengo to leave the outfit called Linda Sponsors or Linda Sponyo and join me in this development journey and build hospitals. I am asking you people; did you choose him to join Linda Sponsors? Why does he allow himself to be a political stooge and puppet to be used by a former president who has retired? Orengo has really disappointed us,” said Dr Ruto.
The President also urged the electorate to rally behind parties within the broad-based government, dismissing newly formed and yet-to-be registered outfits as formations lacking the ideological depth, national reach and tested machinery required to steer the country.
At first glance, the President’s tour of Nyanza was about development; roads, markets, affordable housing, the blue economy and a fresh push to transform the region.
But beneath the speeches, project launches and promises, another contest was unfolding.
It was quieter than a political rally, yet louder than the official script. It was a battle of colours. The real story was not only what was being launched, but who was being allowed to be seen.
Orange against yellow, ODM against UDA, a contest for visibility, territory and, perhaps more importantly, the political soul of a region long regarded as the bedrock of the orange party.
While Mr Ruto has built his political identity around UDA’s yellow, in Siaya he appeared to be speaking the language of ODM, literally wearing the colours of his governing partner as he took the political fight to one of its most influential figures.
President William Ruto and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga in Siaya County on Tuesday.
Photo credit: Pool
But yellow did not disappear. UDA merchandise continued to circulate through the crowd, ensuring that the President’s party retained a visible presence even as its leader donned orange.
Then came another colour. Greenish-yellow merchandise belonging to the Movement for Democracy and Growth party, whose leader is Ugenya Member of Parliament (MP) David Ochieng, was also distributed.
Mr Ochieng has positioned MDG as a force in Siaya politics, insisting that his party will compete with ODM while supporting President Ruto at the national level.
ODM wants dominance. UDA wants to expand its footprint. MDG wants to compete. All three are operating within the wider orbit of the broad-based government.
And when the President reached Ugenya, the symbolism became even harder to miss. The crowd surrounding him was awash with orange, despite his host constituency being associated with Mr Ochieng’s MDG.
President Ruto, again wearing an orange cap, offered Mr Ochieng an olive branch and urged him to work with the administration.
The gesture came against the backdrop of ODM leader Dr Oburu Oginga’s earlier call for Mr Ochieng to fold his party and return to ODM if he wanted to pursue the Siaya gubernatorial seat.
Mr Ochieng, however, has maintained that he will contest on the MDG ticket and that political competition should be allowed even within the broad-based government - arguing that this would enable the President to get maximum votes while giving the region quality leadership.
By Wednesday, in Migori, ODM appeared to have changed gears.
Party leaders, Mr Arati, Leader of the Minority in the National Assembly Junet Mohamed and others, turned out in full orange regalia, reclaiming the visual space after three days in which UDA yellow had enjoyed conspicuous visibility.
But questions remained: was this simply friendly fire between partners in the broad-based coalition, or a calculated effort by UDA to use the visibility of a presidential tour to test its political reach in a region where ODM has traditionally held the upper hand?
The contest comes as the two parties negotiate a pre-election pact, with zoning emerging as a key issue in the talks.
Mr Odhiambo Otieno, a political commentator and Strategic Communication Advisor with Swift Forum Think Tank, believes the colour contest was deliberate but essentially part of the competition between the two governing partners.
“In outdoor marketing people use t-shirts, billboards and other merchandise in marking their territory and stamp authority in terms of party colours in instances where politics is involved. It was clear that UDA was trying to assert some dominance in this Ruto tour through branding,” said Mr Otieno.
“What Ruto did in Siaya was simply to provide cover for ODM against a tough onslaught from Linda Mwananchi. But what I saw in Nyamasaria was spectacular because it showed UDA might have made some inroads in the area as well as in Kasipul and Karachuonyo where I come from,” said Mr Otieno.
But National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Mr John Mbadi offered a different reading, dismissing the idea that those wearing UDA caps were necessarily UDA supporters.
“I don’t even think the people who wore the UDA caps were actually UDA supporters. You know as much as I do that this place is ODM,” said Mr Mbadi at a press conference in Kisumu on Wednesday.
According to him, visibility depended largely on who mobilised supporters and the particular areas visited by the President.
“There are places where there were maybe more UDA caps depending on who mobilised there. And there were many more places I saw actually more ODM merchandise than UDA if we have to be honest. The only place where I saw more merchandise for UDA was on Sunday morning as we were progressing to Nyamasaria. After that the whole place has been awash with ODM attires,” said Mr Mbadi, who accompanied the President throughout his tour of the region.
President William Ruto addresses members of the public after inspecting the Dhogoye Bridge and the ongoing road works in the area, Bondo, Siaya County.
Photo credit: PCS
He added that there were also people wearing MDG merchandise in Ugenya because that is where Mr Ochieng comes from.
The former ODM chairperson, however, framed the spectacle in broader terms, arguing that Nyanza’s political alignment could not be reduced to the colour of a cap.
“I do not know where this narrative is coming from but let us accept that Nyanza is behind Ruto. That is the bottom line. And even if they were not for Ruto, who would they be for? Mbadi is not running for president and there is no other serious presidential candidate, those others are jokers,” said Mr Mbadi.
For now, the caps remain more than headwear.
In a region where political identity has long been worn openly, the colours have become a moving canvas - yellow seeking space, orange guarding familiar ground, and greenish-yellow signalling a third force.
The broad-based government may have brought ODM and UDA into the same political tent. But across Nyanza, the colours suggest that the occupants have not yet surrendered their separate flags.
