Coalition politics cannot defeat Ruto in 2027, says Wanjigi

Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi during an interview with The Standard at Kwacha House in Nairobi on June 19, 2026. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

Safina Party leader and presidential hopeful Jimi Wanjigi has dismissed efforts to forge a united opposition front against President William Ruto, arguing that coalition politics anchored on personalities and ethnic arithmetic offers little departure from the system he says has deepened Kenya’s economic crisis. He also declared that he will contest the presidency independently in 2027.

Wanjigi said the emerging opposition realignments risk reproducing the same political culture that has repeatedly failed to address issues of debt, taxation and unemployment, insisting that Kenya’s political debate has been reduced to elite bargaining rather than substantive policy alternatives.