NAIROBI, Kenya- Former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi has endorsed presidential aspirant Edwin Sifuna for the presidency but says he will support whoever the united opposition selects to face President William Ruto in 2027.
Kituyi said Sifuna was his preferred candidate because of his ability to attract younger voters and remain consistent on national issues.
“As of now, my preferred candidate is Sifuna; however, I will support whichever candidate is agreed upon as the candidate of the opposition,” Kituyi said.
He described Sifuna as an energetic politician whose public record had not been tainted by scandal.
“Sifuna has the energy, consistency and integrity; he has not been besmirched by any scandal,” he said. “I have not yet seen anything about Sifuna’s history that suggests any vulnerability to compromise.”
Kituyi argued that Sifuna had mobilised younger voters who do not necessarily organise themselves around ethnic identities.
“He has excited a major section of the electorate that nobody had been able to open up: the younger voters,” he said. “They are a non-tribal political constituency.”
Despite his endorsement, Kituyi maintained that opposition leaders must agree on a single presidential candidate to avoid dividing their vote.
He said presidential aspirants Fred Matiang’i and Martha Karua, alongside Siaya Governor James Orengo, supported efforts to develop a common policy platform for the opposition.
“We still remain committed to fielding a single presidential candidate against Ruto,” Kituyi said, adding that he would not contest any elective position.
He predicted that any candidate selected from the current group of opposition aspirants could defeat Ruto.
Kituyi also criticised the President’s leadership, arguing that a second term would operate without sufficient political restraint.
“If Ruto came back, there would be no guardrails on his presidency,” he said.
The former Trade minister accused the administration of weakening respect for the rule of law and compared the current political environment to former President Daniel arap Moi’s era.
“This is a reboot with Moi on steroids,” Kituyi said.
He also criticised Ruto’s directive targeting undocumented foreigners and foreign traders, saying blanket enforcement measures could expose Kenyans living and working in neighbouring countries to retaliation.
“As a head of government, you cannot stoke nationalist hatred against people from neighbouring countries,” he said.
Kituyi argued that Kenya had not experienced a spontaneous public uprising against immigrants and accused the President of manufacturing a political crisis through identity politics.
“The President has created a problem out of the blues,” he said. “The question of identity politics is a very cheap coin in politics.”
