Renowned political analyst Professor Mutahi Ngunyi has weighed in on the rapidly rising political star of Nairobi County Senator Edwin Sifuna, and his assessment is as blunt and provocative as Kenyans have come to expect from the outspoken commentator.
Sifuna has been riding a wave of extraordinary momentum, using the Linda Mwananchi movement as the vehicle for what is increasingly looking like a serious presidential campaign ahead of 2027. His rallies have been drawing massive crowds, dominated by the youth who make up the bulk of the IEBC voter register and who have been looking for a fresh and fearless voice to rally behind since the passing of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The Nairobi Senator’s meteoric rise has rattled seasoned political figures across the board. President William Ruto, according to sources close to the matter, has been losing sleep over the Mulembe son’s rapidly expanding national footprint.
During his five-day development tour of Luo Nyanza, Ruto could not resist repeatedly mentioning Sifuna by name while speaking in Kisumu County on Monday, accusing him of being sponsored by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to destabilise his government and engineer his removal from power in 2027. When a sitting president keeps mentioning your name at rallies, it is usually a sign that you have gotten under his skin.
But Mutahi Ngunyi is not impressed by the noise surrounding Sifuna, and he has said so in his characteristic style. The political scientist dismissed Sifuna’s rise as largely cosmetic, predicting that the momentum will fade before it ever reaches the finish line.
Ngunyi argued that a presidential race is a marathon, not a sprint, and that Sifuna is running like a sprinter in a race designed to break sprinters. He further went as far as calling Sifuna an idiot, saying the senator does not realise that he is being used as a pawn for political expediency, either by Uhuru Kenyatta, by Ruto himself, or by both, depending on whose interests are being served at any given moment.
“Presidential race is a Marathon. Not a splinter race. Let’s see how LONG Sifuna will last. He is what the NAZI called a USEFUL IDIOT. Useful because someone is using him. Ruto or Uhuru or BOTH. And he is an IDIOT because he cannot tell the difference. Only time will TEACH him,” Ngunyi posted on X
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