Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i acknowledges greetings from members of the public in Borabu Constituency, Nyamira County on May 02, 2025.
It is a scandal that Spotify, sending me a summary of my most listened to music last year, listed Diamond Platnumz as my favourite musician, by an English mile. A respectable second was Kofi Olomide, the 90s music I used to listen to in Hall 4, with my comrades Kitevu, Mwiti, Wambua and many other now important people on this continent.
The entry of Dr Fred Matiang’i into the 2027 presidential race a few days ago reminds me of a line from a rather interesting Bongo tune, Kwa Ngwaru, a collabo between Harmonize and Diamond. I looked up the lyrics and the translation, which is in somewhat strange English, but you will get the point:
Nikumbatie baridini
Kwenye tundu kama njiwa
Moyo wangu ni wa makuti
Usinijie na kibiriti (hasa we')
(Cuddle me when cold, like a dove in its nest, my heart is made of dry palm leaves, don't come with a matchbox)
Kenyan politics is tepid equilibrium, dominated by the same barons who have been at it for half a century. Some of them are facing backwards, dreaming of establishing 1980s dictatorships, others are looking around in confusion, not sure whether they are in the opposition or in government, whether they stand with the people or with other forces. Dr Fred Matiang’i is the catalyst that changes the game and gives direction to those who reject the status quo.
Three preliminary things – the election is in two-and-half years away, a lifetime in politics. Any number of things could change. Secondly, I agree with Dr Matiang’i, let’s remember that we have a country to preserve and decency requires that we accord the President the respect and dignity of his office. Thirdly, the debate is about issues. In other words, are Kenyans united and do they have ideas to restore their country to the path of greatness once and for all.
Dr Matiang’i becomes another cosmic point, a powerful place, around which other stars can revolve, a credible and viable alternative to President Ruto, a candidate who can replace many of the tired leaders and unite the country around new ideas.
All-conquering political force
While I will not fight anyone who argues that President William Ruto has become politically weakened – of course he has, he has lost voters and united opponents – I also recognise that he has been a politician of smoke and mirrors all along. At the last election, while he was very strong on the ground, the impression we had was that he was an all-conquering political force, that opposition to him was futile, that the only politician who could even mount a credible fight was Raila Odinga.
At the end of the day, the two candidates were evenly matched and President Ruto won with a margin of only 200,000 votes. Mr Odinga’s ground game was less than efficient at turning out and protecting his vote, and at the Supreme Court, the judges ridiculed his case in tones that we all recall with bitterness and regret. Turn out in Nyanza was down 8 per cent, from 80 per cent in 2017 to 72 per cent in 2022. Just by turning out the vote in the homeland would have forced a run-off.
The President struggled to beat a rather weakened Raila whose support in Western and Coast had softened and enthusiasm at home was lower, quite likely the result of a rather lacklustre campaign. The notable gain was Mt Kenya which, as a region, was the second highest contributor of votes to him after Nyanza. But as a proportion of the entire Mt Kenya basket, there was a lot of room for improvement for Mr Odinga and his backers at the end of the day.
Credible record of achievement
One of the reason Dr Matiang’i brings competitiveness to the race is his record of stubborn and hard-nosed competence. When he was appointed Minister for Education in 2016, exam cheating was a multi-billion shilling ‘industry’. The crooks stealing and selling exams were swimming in money, entrenched and ruthless. At the end of the day, he chased them out of town and reformed the examination space. You can’t do this by fiat.
You have to know how to finesse and leverage the bureaucracy so that you have the entire system working together towards your goal. It demonstrated that he could take the government and make it more efficient, more impactful, more useful to the citizenry. He played a pivotal role in doing the same thing in Immigration and security services modernisation as well. This is in a different order of magnitude to building a stadium, for example.
I am arguing that Matiang’i has changed the race by putting on the table a set of demonstrable skills and a credible record of achievement, not that he is an angel or that he has already won the election. No. His skills at negotiation and coalition building are yet to be tested. And there is a whole load of explaining to be done, including presenting a believable plan and accounting for all of his service in government.
What I’m arguing is that in Dr Matiang’i President Ruto has a strong and credible opponent and the electorate has, finally, a viable alternative. This is Diamond’s Kiberiti, adding energy and urgency to the race, lighting a fire under the backside of the status quo.
