Former Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana warned opposition leaders on Sunday November 15, 2026 that three critical failures could enable President William Ruto to secure a commanding victory in the August 10, 2027 General Election.
In a post on X, Kibwana urged the opposition to unite, pointing to the 2002 General Election when opposition parties rallied behind a single candidate to end KANU’s decades-long rule as a model to replicate.
He identified the first failure as the absence of a unified front, the second as the lack of a clear, people-centred political agenda, and the third as the failure to forge an irrevocable social contract with youth.
Kibwana described public attacks among opposition politicians as “friendly fire” that must cease, warning that without unity the President will have the opposition for breakfast on 10.8.2027, a reference to the outcomes of the 1992 and 1997 elections when a split opposition allowed the incumbent KANU government to retain power.
He specifically cautioned Babu Owino and Sifuna against accepting suggestions that they are political competitors, stating that those who try to estrange the two are “enemies of Kenya and the future” and that Kenyans would prefer one of them to become President while the other serves as Governor of Nairobi County.
Kibwana, a former two-term governor of Makueni who previously ran for the presidency, has remained an active political commentator since leaving office, frequently weighing in on national governance and electoral matters.
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