Kalonzo is man on a mission that can't be stopped

Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka view the body of the Former Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga during the State Funeral Service at the Nyayo National Stadium on October 17, 2025. Raila passed on in India while on a treatment.[Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. And for close to two years now, Kenya has lived with a glaring opposition vacuum, created after the 2022 elections and deepened by what many Kenyans view as the political compromise of Raila Odinga by President William Ruto’s regime.

That vacuum, however, is beginning to close. Recent events, particularly former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s televised interview aptly titled “The Man on a Mission,” suggest that the long-quiet opposition voice has found renewed clarity, courage and conviction. President Ruto’s increasingly erratic public outbursts offer a telling backdrop. His fixation with Kalonzo betrays a man sensing danger. Power, when threatened, often reacts before it reflects. The President’s tantrums are not accidental; they are instinctive. Ruto has clearly read the political weather and realised Kalonzo is stepping into the arena as a serious national contender. 

In the interview, Kalonzo delivered the most scathing and coherent critique of the Ruto administration. He accused the regime of systematically dismantling the rule of law and normalising unconstitutional governance. He cited the now-infamous recruitment of teachers allegedly conducted from State House, where appointment letters were reportedly issued to political cronies. He referenced the controversial Kenya Revenue Authority recruitment, widely condemned for ethnic and regional bias, as well as questionable practices in recruitment of the Kenya Defence Forces. These, Kalonzo argued, are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a rogue administration that views institutions as personal tools rather than public trusts. 

President Ruto has ridiculed Kalonzo’s 40-year political career, mockingly claiming that even the road to his Tseikuru home remained dusty. In a rare but refreshing moment of political candour, Kalonzo responded not with anger but with facts. He contrasted his modest lifestyle with Ruto’s conspicuous use of state power, revealing that at least three major roads leading to the President’s personal properties have been constructed in just three years of his tenure. The question he posed was not personal—it was moral: what kind of leadership prioritises private comfort over public suffering?

Kalonzo also punctured the President’s often repeated promise of transforming Kenya into a “Singapore of Africa.” Such rhetoric, he argued, is little more than a pipe dream when the country is effectively on autopilot—adrift without respect for the rule of law, accountability or institutional independence. Singapore was built on discipline, integrity and strong institutions, not political impunity.

Kenya, Kalonzo said, does not need flashy slogans at this moment; it needs healing. The damage inflicted by what he described as maladministration is so deep that any honest leader would require at least the first 100 days in office merely to stabilise the nation. His diagnosis was blunt: the health sector is in shambles, education is collapsing under corruption and mismanagement, and the police force has become a den of graft and fear.

What stood out most was not just the content, but the tone. Calm yet firm. Measured yet fearless. This was a Kalonzo Musyoka Kenyans have rarely seen—confident in his record, unapologetic about his values, and clear about his vision. President Ruto’s repeated attacks may have finally “woken the animal” in Kalonzo, forcing him to step forward as the opposition figure Kenyans have been yearning for.

Kenya has been desperate for a credible counterweight to unchecked power. That counterweight is now emerging. Kalonzo laid bare the selfishness of the current regime and challenged it in a manner never witnessed before—using facts, constitutionalism and moral clarity. As the road to 2027 takes shape, Kalonzo is firmly in the frame — and President Ruto knows it. 

The writer is Wiper Patriotic Front’s Secretary General in charge of Diaspora Affairs