I have many memories from the years I spent campaigning
with our late friend, Raila Amolo Odinga. One in particular has stayed with me,
and I’ve often used it to put out fires on social media whenever supporters got
carried away defending their preferred candidate.
It speaks to a truth many
keyboard warriors never grasp—or grasp only after they’ve already made
themselves look uncouth.
I’m talking about the habit of hurling insults at
presidential candidates simply because “their side” is doing the same. I would
remind people that if they knew what really happens behind the scenes—and I say
this as someone who witnessed it many times at Wilson Airport after campaign
rallies—they would understand how foolish it is to waste energy on insults.
Here is what actually happens.
Campaign helicopters must return to Wilson Airport by a
certain time. So, after a long day of rallies where candidates have been
tearing into each other, they all end up crammed into the same small waiting
area, side by side, waiting for their vehicles.
And in that brief interlude,
something remarkable happens: the same people who were trading barbs on stage
are cracking jokes, laughing and chatting like old friends. The laughter is
genuine, the camaraderie real.
Their supporters never see this. All they hear are the
insults, the slights, the put‑downs—and they mimic them with even more venom.
That disconnect has done real damage to the quality of our political discourse.
We have reached a point where insults are the staple, and serious discussion of
issues is the exception.
Yet, despite this decline, the two leading contenders
poised to challenge the incumbent in 2027 are not known for trading insults.
In
fact, I cannot recall either of them stooping to that level, even when
provoked. Just the other day, when the President attacked Fred Matiang’i, many
expected a fiery response. If it had been another candidate, the exchange would
have escalated into something regrettable.
But Matiang’i responded in the manner consistent with who
he is: a Seventh‑day Adventist, a disciplined and serious public servant, and a
man who does not indulge in pettiness. He simply reminded the head of state,
politely but firmly, where he is from and why such attacks are beneath the
dignity of the office.
Why Ruto suddenly chose to attack the Jubilee deputy leader
is a subject for another day. What followed, however, was telling: a
coordinated effort to spread falsehoods about the ongoing discussions within
the United Opposition regarding the choice of flagbearer.
If you have seen or
heard these narratives, understand them for what they are—propaganda,
distortions and outright lies. And we are not even close to the formal campaign
period.
If this is the level of misinformation now, imagine what it
will look like a year from today.
But unlike 2022—when one could argue the incumbent
benefitted from both legacy media and social media—the landscape in 2027 will
be different.
The goodwill that once favoured the incumbent has evaporated.
Both mainstream and digital platforms are now more likely to amplify the
challenger than the President, and that shift is entirely self‑inflicted.
There is one question nearly everyone is asking: between
Matiang’i and former VP Kalonzo, who is better positioned to defeat the
incumbent in 2027? The rumours flying around claim to have the answer, but
those rumours are propaganda—nothing more.
The truth will reveal itself soon enough. And as Matiang’i
has consistently said, the United Opposition’s flagbearer must emerge from a
credible, scientific process. If that process is done correctly, it will
deliver the candidate best prepared for the battle ahead.
Until then, ignore everything you see or hear flying around
about who has been “selected” to be the candidate. There is no such selection
that has taken place.
When it happens, it’ll be open, transparent and fair as we
demand our elections to be; the latter having not happened since 2002, a
phenomenon which shall repeat itself in 2027 given all these dynamics in place.
And what an irony it would be indeed that
retired President Uhuru Kenyatta will have a big say in that.