Former South Mugirango Member of Parliament (MP) Omingo Magara has declared that the political coronation of Jubilee Deputy Party leader Fred Matiang’i in Gusii has effectively silenced sceptics and cemented the region’s resolve ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Speaking on Monday, March 2, 2026, during an interview on a local TV station, Magara argued that the three-day tour by the United Alternative Government was not merely ceremonial but a decisive statement of political direction.

“This narrative was to stamp authority and confirm the routing. Kisii is not moving from this regime to a new dispensation. We have written a better decision,” he said.

Magara, a seasoned Gusii politician, framed the moment as the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes persuasion, revealing that as early as 2025, when Matiang’i visited Kisii, he had cautioned local leaders that the community’s political future required clarity and unity.

“I was telling them, Kisii is locked. Please believe us. But there were too many noisemakers out there. They kept shouting because they were eating at the table, saying their milk is from a funny cow, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) boss said.

Matiang’i was coronated as a Kisii elder and community spokesman on Monday, February 23, 2026 at the Ekerenyo Grounds in Nyamira County, where United Opposition leaders were present.

Gusii locked?

This comes amid a deeper political shift in the Gusii region, long considered a bedrock of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

With the United Opposition now openly courting the region and Jubilee consolidating its base, the political battleground for 2027 is beginning to take shape.

Massive turnouts at Ekerenyo Grounds and Kisii Stadium signalled not just enthusiasm but consolidation around a single political figure.

For Magara, the optics were unmistakable: the sceptics have been answered.

“They thought it was a joke. We told them, ‘Do not worry. Here we are. We have come,” he said.

Matiang’i’s tour, which featured prominent opposition heavyweights including Kalonzo Musyoka, Rigathi Gachagua, Eugene Wamalwa, Justin Muturi and Martha Karua, was widely interpreted as the unveiling of a joint opposition architecture designed to challenge President William Ruto in 2027.

By any political measure, Matiang’i is shaping up as Ruto’s most stubborn headache.

Ruto’s strategy has centred on fragmenting opposition strongholds and engineering elite pacts, including cooperation with the late ODM leader Raila Odinga, to weaken resistance in hostile regions.

Yet in Gusii, the opposite appears to be happening: rather than splintering, the vote is hardening.

Magara cast the moment in almost biblical terms, drawing parallels to unlikely leadership rising from obscurity.

“In biblical terms, there was this lad in the bush. He has not been in elective political leadership for sure. He has only had a stint in the executive, done an exemplary job in ICT and education,” the former MP stated.

The thinly veiled allusion to Matiang’i’s tenure as Cabinet Secretary in key ministries was deliberate. For Magara and his allies, the former Interior boss represents technocratic competence untainted by the theatrics of elective politics.

“Messes were in the past. Now, Kenyans, let us try this and see what can make a difference. If the base was wrong, shift the base right.”