By Clement Wasike
In the grand theatre of Kenyan politics, where the line between saviour and charlatan often blurs, a “new” cast of characters has taken centre stage. Kenya’s emerging opposition, a motley crew of recycled politicians, demagogues, and political novices, claims to champion a “new dawn” for the nation. Yet, beneath the veneer of revolutionary rhetoric lies a hollow core of a cabal of self-seeking opportunists devoid of vision, integrity, or even basic coherence.
These are latter-day Messiahs peddling empty promises whose hands are stained with overflowing hypocrisy.Ideally, a functioning opposition is the lifeblood of democracy. It holds power to account, offers alternative policies, and amplifies the voices of the marginalised. But Kenya’s current opposition leaders resemble a discordant orchestra eagerly clamouring for the spotlight. Take their so-called “unity” rallies – one day, they decry corruption, the next, they share podiums with individuals implicated in multi-billion-shilling scandals.
Their “ideology” shifts with the wind. Consider the farcical “People’s Assembly” movement of 2023. Led by a coalition of disgruntled MPs and influencers, it promised to “reset Kenya’s democracy.” Yet, its sole achievement was a series of poorly attended rallies where speakers contradicted one another on everything from tax policy to land reform. When pressed for a manifesto, leaders waffled about “listening to the people”, a euphemism for having no plan at all.
The most glaring flaw of this so-called opposition is its unquenchable thirst for power, not for the people, but for itself. Many of its leading figures are political nomads, drifting between parties and alliances in pursuit of personal gain. A prominent MP, once a fierce critic of the current administration, recently defected to the ruling party after securing a lucrative committee appointment.
Another, a firebrand activist who built his brand on “fighting the system,” now owns a fleet of luxury cars mysteriously funded by unnamed “well-wishers.”A credible opposition thrives on fresh ideas. Kenya’s current crop offers little beyond reheated slogans and performative anger. When challenged, the talking heads in the “new” opposition line-up take to attacking the president’s foreign trips, itself a lazy trope that ignores systemic issues such as reforms in education and industrialisation.
For all their talk of unity, these “born-again” leaders cling to the oldest trick in Kenyan politics, the tribal bait. A rising opposition star, who brands himself a “pan-Africanist,” recently warned a crowd in to “beware of outsiders stealing your land” – a barely veiled ethnic dog whistle. Another, during a televised debate, blamed a certain community of having an overload of elites” supposedly responsible for Kenya’s economic woes.
Such rhetoric fractures national cohesion while exposing the moral bankruptcy of the new-fangled opposition outfit. Today’s leaders seem determined to outdo their predecessors in ineptitude. Their rallies feature more fashion than policy and their press conferences more bluster than substance. When a journalist recently asked a prominent opposition figure to explain his economic plan, he snapped, “Why nitpick? We’re here to liberate Kenya!”Kenya surely deserves better than political theatrics.
The emerging opposition, with its cocktail of ambition and amnesia, offers no salvation. Its leaders are not rebels; they are rent-seekers in revolutionaries’ clothing busy trading the people’s hopes for personal gain.True change requires more than hashtags and hubris. It demands leaders with the courage to craft policies, the integrity to shun corruption, and the humility to serve rather than lord it over others. Until such leaders emerge, Kenya’s opposition will remain a carnival of clowns and a summit of loud, catwalk armed with nothing more than razzmatazz but least capable of steering the nation anywhere.
Kenyans deserve better than being driven into a wilderness of mirages or fantasyland. The hour calls for builders, not masqueraders in Messiahs’ robes.
Clement Wasike is a former banker turned social critic and political commentator.
