Former president Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto greet each other at a church function in Embu on November 16, 2024.
President William Ruto’s allies are increasingly linking his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, to growing opposition to his Kenya Kwanza administration, suggesting the 2027 General Election could be a replay of their rivalries in the last polls.
In the 2022 General Election, the then outgoing president, Kenyatta, made the unprecedented decision to back opposition leader Raila Odinga under the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition. It was a dramatic break from his deputy of 10 years, Dr Ruto, who went on to win the presidential vote.
And now, nearly four years after the bruising 2022 elections, the contest between Mr Kenyatta and Dr Ruto is once again shaping the national conversation through shifting alliances.
Among the actions by Mr Kenyatta that have upset Dr Ruto’s camp is the revival of Azimio by installing Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka as party leader to replace Raila, who died last October. President Ruto has himself scoffed at the plan to revive Azimio.
Another move by Mr Kenyatta is the installation, by his Jubilee party, of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i as deputy leader as part of preparations for his presidential candidature.
The president’s side is also linking Mr Kenyatta to factional wars within ODM and the emergence of the Linda Mwananchi movement, led by ODM secretary-general Edwin Sifuna, who has opposed a plan by a faction led by party leader Oburu Oginga to back Dr Ruto’s re-election.
Also Read: Revealed - Uhuru Kenyatta's Azimio game plan
Taken together, the president’s allies argue these developments suggest Mr Kenyatta is assembling a coalition against President Ruto.
President William Ruto (left) with former President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) and Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed on the sidelines of the 39th AU Summit in Addis Ababa.
Political analysts say that in Kenyan politics, “rivalries rarely end at the ballot, but mutate, regroup and return under new banners.”
What many are calling “Season II” of the UhuRuto fallout is unfolding against the backdrop of 2027 calculations. At its heart lies a familiar question: Is Uhuru quietly orchestrating a second attempt to stop Dr Ruto?
The president’s aide, Farouk Kibet, is among those who are attacking Mr Kenyatta, alleging he is sponsoring the opposition.
A fierce public exchange between National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohamed — who is in the ODM faction pushing for a pre-election deal between ODM and the ruling UDA — and Mr Sifuna recently reopened wounds over campaign financing and alleged mismanagement of funds for Raila’s failed fifth bid for president.
The accusations revived claims first documented by Saitabao Ole Kanchory in his book Why Baba is Not the 5th — a damning account of confusion and alleged sabotage within Azimio’s 2022 campaign.
Then President Uhuru Kenyatta and the late former ODM leader Raila Odinga at the KICC in Nairobi during the Jubilee Party's National Delegates Conference on February 26, 2022.
Yet Raila had, in September 2022, defended his secretariat, insisting the issue of agents was not the cause of defeat and that the constitutional duty to protect the vote lay with the IEBC.
Now, with Raila gone, the dispute is no longer restrained by his authority.
Into this vacuum has stepped Mr Sifuna’s Linda Mwananchi movement — a populist push framed around protecting citizens from economic hardship and what he calls President Ruto’s unresponsive governance.
The symbolism has been striking. At rallies, blue, orange and white — Azimio’s colours — dominate.
Jubilee and United Opposition figures have been spotted on the podium. The rhetoric is unapologetically “Wantam” — shorthand for one term.
“There has to be an overwhelming repudiation of William Ruto and everything he stands for,” Mr Sifuna said on NTV’s Fixing the Nation on Tuesday. “We must beat William Ruto by at least five million votes.”
He added: “We will not be the problem. I cannot countenance waking up and hearing William Ruto has won by one hundred thousand votes, like he did last time.”
Mr Sifuna, also the Nairobi Senator, has left little doubt that Linda Mwananchi could formally align with the United Opposition ahead of 2027.
As Linda Mwananchi gains traction, Kenya Kwanza leaders have revived claims that Mr Kenyatta is the hidden hand.
A section of Western Kenya leaders echoed the charge, suggesting the former president is behind the ODM splinter faction.
ODM chairperson Gladys Wanga, however, has defended the party’s 2027 pre-election pact talks with UDA, vowing there is no turning back despite resistance from Mr Sifuna’s faction.
Mr Kenyatta has also, on many occasions, urged youth to fight for their rights, in what critics have read as “inciting the Gen Zs to launch a rebellion against President Ruto’s administration.”
From left: Azimio bigwigs Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, the late Raila Odinga, and former President Uhuru Kenyatta during an Interdenominational prayer service for victims of police brutality at SKM Centre in Karen on July 28, 2023.
Recently, a section of the youth vowed to visit the former president’s Ichaweri home, a move that was widely viewed as political mobilisation against Dr Ruto.
Also Read: ODM fires back at Uhuru over Azimio changes
In response to the planned visit, Mr Kenyatta’s office issued a statement through spokesperson Kanze Dena Mararo, affirming his openness to dialogue but clarifying he could not host the group at the moment.
The statement was measured — but politically loaded. It underscored his continued relevance, particularly among Gen Z voters, whom he has subtly courted through calls for dialogue and generational engagement.
Another signal came when the former president travelled with Mr Musyoka for the Future Africa Leaders Awards ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria. Though officially low-key, insiders say 2027 was discussed.
Following Raila’s death, the former president, also the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Executive Committee chairman, supported Mr Musyoka’s elevation to lead the coalition — a move widely interpreted as positioning him as the coalition’s natural presidential front-runner.
For Mr Musyoka, who once deferred to Raila, the endorsement marked a new chapter, even though some opposition principals have insisted on the need for a new coalition rather than the Azimio.
For President Ruto’s camp, the installation of Mr Musyoka as Azimio head reinforced suspicions that Mr Kenyatta is reassembling a coalition to challenge Kenya Kwanza.
Senator Edwin Sifuna's speech was briefly interrupted when tear gas was lobbed in the crowd during the Linda Mwananchi rally in Kakamega on February 21.
But not everyone is convinced.
Multimedia University of Kenya don, Prof Gitile Naituli, argues that the ex-president may be managing the opposition in a way that ultimately benefits President Ruto.
“My belief is that Uhuru never backed Raila in 2022,” Prof Naituli says. “Even now, he could be managing opposition to give Ruto a second term.”
He questions whether Mr Kenyatta can deliver victory from outside power. “If he couldn’t deliver to a popular Raila when he had power, how will he deliver these people when Ruto is in power?”
Prof Naituli also notes that some of Mr Kenyatta’s allies — including Mutahi Kagwe and Lee Kinyanjui — have found space within the broad-based government, blurring the lines between rivalry and détente.
“Uhuru and Ruto are one and the same thing,” he argues. “If the opposition want his money, let him give them. But if they think he will campaign and win for them, they are lost.”
Amid the crossfire, Mr Sifuna has emerged as Mr Kenyatta’s unlikely defender.
When Junet Mohamed and others accused the former president of financing dissent within ODM, Mr Sifuna apologised publicly to the former president on behalf of the party, distancing himself from attacks made at rallies attended by Dr Ruto.
His defence has deepened internal suspicions — but it has also reinforced the perception that Mr Kenyatta remains influential within sections of the opposition.
As 2027 approaches, all pointers suggest a symbolic face-off between UhuRuto.
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