Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i is set to meet Kenyans in the US state of Minnesota over his presidential ambitions of 2027.

Matiang’i, who travelled to the US alongside Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader, is expected to meet the residents of Minnesota in the company of Kitutu Chache MP Anthony Kibagendi on Saturday, August 2, 2025, and Sunday, August 3, 2025.

Kibagendi, who is an ODM MP, is seen to have switched his allegiance to Matiang’i, as have several other legislators in the Gusii region, including Kisii and Nyamira senators Richard Onyonka and Okong’o Mogeni.

No political party

Kibagendi served in the office of the deputy president before vying for the Kitutu Chache MP seat in 2022. The seat’s previous holder was Onyonka, who opted to vie for the senatorial seat.

Matiang’i, who is yet to settle on a political party to vie with, has been courted by the Jubilee and UPA parties.

He, however, maintains that several parties have expressed an interest in having him as their presidential candidate, but he is still in the process of consultation.

In an interview on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, Matiang’i indicated that he was still engaged in broad consultations and that declaring a political party at the moment would disadvantage some of the people he was negotiating with.

“I am now in consultation with a number of political parties and leaders across the board. I honestly think that if I made a choice now and stuck to one political party, I would disadvantage the others with whom we are having a discussion,” Matiang’i said.

Coalition of parties

“Definitely, as we go forward, there is not going to be a single political party that will form the government. I would rather have sufficient conversations with Kenyans across the board before I finally say this is the format with which I would like to present myself to the IEBC.”

The former cabinet secretary also noted that being courted by various political parties to be their flagbearer was flattering.

“I have been approached by seven or eight political parties on whether we should work together. It is flattering that we have many political leaders sitting down in their executive committees, and saying maybe Fred Matiang’i should be our candidate even before I ask them,” Matiang’i remarked.