NAIROBI, Kenya — The renewed call for opposition unity has taken a sharper tone, with People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua warning that efforts to unseat President William Ruto will remain “a mirage” unless Kenya’s opposition leaders abandon divisions and rally around shared values.
Her remarks, made in a televised interview on Tuesday, were laden with urgency and frustration — a stark acknowledgment of the deep fissures within an opposition that recognizes the stakes of the 2027 election but continues to stumble over ego, ideology, and ambition.
“We have no choice but to unite in the spirit of values that the late Hon. Raila Odinga cherished when we formed Azimio la Umoja Coalition,” Karua said.
Her statement underscored that true unity must go beyond optics and transactional alliances, calling instead for a coalition built on shared purpose, inclusivity, and accountability.
Karua described Odinga’s passing as a monumental political loss that has left a moral and strategic void. “The death of Odinga is a big blow to Kenyans and even us in a big way. He was one in a million. We won’t match his stakes. It signals a big political tremor in the coming days — one that requires reconciliation and working together for the common good,” she said.
But Karua also issued a veiled warning to some opposition figures accused of engaging with the government behind closed doors. “If some of our leaders go to State House and are compromised, they betray the unity course,” she said, adding that Kenyans must scrutinize leaders at all levels to ensure integrity and accountability.
Her message went beyond the political class to the electorate itself. She urged citizens to hold leaders accountable for how they exercise power, warning that Kenya’s democratic space is shrinking — not only due to state overreach but also because of public apathy and cynicism.
This, she noted, comes amid widespread frustration over economic mismanagement, high taxation, and collapsing public services.
Karua’s warning comes as the opposition struggles to overcome years of mistrust, ideological fragmentation, and personality clashes. Past coalitions — from NASA to Azimio — have repeatedly fractured under the weight of competing ambitions and ethnic alignments.
“There are those who are now evoking the name of Raila. But the values he stood for remain recorded in the public domain. We must find balance in his absence,” she said.
Analysts note that President Ruto’s administration has deftly exploited these divisions, often co-opting opposition figures and using state power to weaken dissent. The result, they argue, is a political landscape where the government faces little organized challenge.
Unity, therefore, is not just desirable — it is existential. To achieve it, opposition leaders must go beyond press conferences and embrace genuine introspection, strategic compromise, and long-term vision.
“We must go for value-based leaders with a heart for the people, where the people are centric to their leadership tenets, as Odinga would always put the people first, all else second,” Karua emphasized.
Meanwhile, President Ruto continues to consolidate his political base through relentless grassroots campaigns. He has traversed nearly all 47 counties, defending his development record and urging Kenyans to judge him by his performance rather than opposition rhetoric.
His administration points to flagship projects in affordable housing, agricultural reforms, rural electrification, and healthcare improvements as evidence of progress.
“I am not going to seek your votes on nothing,” Ruto said recently. “Judge me by the legacy of state-funded projects you have seen — ego and malice aside.”
With Deputy President Kithure Kindiki spearheading government outreach through the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, Ruto’s camp is projecting confidence ahead of 2027. The president’s strategy, rooted in what his aides describe as “universal altruism and grassroots empowerment,” contrasts sharply with an opposition still searching for unity and coherence.
Karua’s message is thus both a warning and a wake-up call.
Without genuine unity, moral clarity, and civic engagement, the opposition risks irrelevance — and Kenya’s democratic contest risks becoming a one-horse race. Whether Kenyans heed that call could determine not only the shape of the next election, but the future of Kenya’s political balance itself.
