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The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) party will formulate a Presidential Exploratory Team (PET) to analyse former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i’s suitability to run for president.

UPA national chairman Nyambega Gisesa said the team will evaluate relevant information before making a final decision on Matiang’i’s candidature.

The party is also reaching out to other political parties and stakeholders to explore opportunities to work together.

UPA, which has over the years been linked to Matiang’i, announced plans to open offices across the country in readiness for the 2027 elections.

“We are not leaving anything to chance. We need to bring all like-minded people on board and hope to galvanise adequate support for a possible Matiang’i presidency,” Gisesa said.

The former Interior CS is riding on many factors, including his remarkable service in the dockets of Interior, Information Science and Technology (ICT) and Education in former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.

Making consultations

Although he had retreated from the limelight, Matiang’i appears to have made a return following calls from some Kenyans for him to contest for the presidency.

He has been making consultations with various groups, including professionals, and is reportedly exploring a nationwide network.

In recent days, there has been disquiet amid claims that the Gusii community is being sidelined in the sharing of the national cake, particularly in as far as appointments into strategic government positions is concerned.

Although the former CS has not made a formal declaration, calls emanating from his supporters, including professionals and politicians from his Gusii backyard, have intensified.

North Mugirango MP, Joash Nyamoko observes that Matiang’i stands out as a possible uniting factor of the Gusii community, going into the future.

“It’s a fact that no national leader has regard for our community because they all know that we are not united and this continues to disadvantage our people,” Nyamoko says.

Robust career

The lawmaker noted that while the community is comprised of aggressive and hardworking individuals, their efforts will bear insignificant fruits until they unite.

“Matiang’i is ripe for the country’s top seat and we will accord him the support to bag victory,” said lawyer Danstan Omari, a close friend and official of the Gusii-Kenyatta University (KU) Alumni Association, where the former CS is an active member.

He noted that the former CS had a robust career in academia before he got into Cabinet where he performed exceedingly well.
“It is evident that Matiang’i is a result-oriented person and we have no doubt that he will take our country to greater heights,” Omari said, remarks which were echoed by Gisesa.

“The former CS delivered in all the portfolios he held; education, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Interior,” said Gisesa.

While reminiscing the time when former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae united the community, Omari said that it would be a regrettable mistake if the Gusii people fail to unite one more time.

He noted that when Nyachae’s party, Ford People bagged the then ten parliamentary seats from the larger Gusii region, they were able to bargain for the national cake.

Strategic positions

At the time, the community got at least two Cabinet slots, a similar number of assistant ministers and other strategic government positions.

“Gusii region must throw its weight behind Matiang’i, otherwise it will take another 20 to 30 years to have another person from the community fit in his shoes,” Omari said.

There has been discontent in the community after President William Ruto broadened his Cabinet by bringing on board faces from the opposition.

Those appointed are not only close allies of former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga but hail from the two leaders’ home stuffs.

“I believe that the President gave those chances to Odinga and Kenyatta to distribute but they gave them to their backyards because we don’t have any influence as a community,” Nyamoko said.

The lawmaker said that time had come for leaders from the larger Gusii region to sit together and unite the community if it is to have relevance at the national table.

“This year is critical in the 2027 arithmetic and we must be there to strategise for our political destiny,” Nyamoko said.

After Ruto assumed power, Matiang’i, just like many of his colleagues in the Kenyatta Cabinet, retreated from public limelight and moved to the United States, where he got a job that he has been doing until he returned to the country just recently.

During the anti-government protests orchestrated by the passage of the Finance Bill that many Kenyans considered oppressive in June, young people (popularly known as Gen Z) claimed that only Matiang’i could return the country from the path of economic collapse.