‘They are living on borrowed time’ – Sifuna spells doom for Ruto’s administration

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has expressed doubts about whether the Kenya Kwanza regime will secure a second term in the upcoming elections.

Speaking during a local radio show on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, Sifuna indicated that the current administration was on the verge of election loss and that they were aware of the shifting allegiances.

“After the political shift that happened, they know that they are living on borrowed time and Kenyans are just sitting there watching them. You cannot scare anyone. If the government was confident in its ability to convince people to give it another term, they would be speaking about the things that they have done between the election and now,” Sifuna said.

Abduction debate

“This particular time in our country, we want to talk about our software. It doesn’t matter how many roads you build if you are going to abduct people for just criticizing you.”

Following weeks of protests that gave birth to a Gen Z uprising in the country, President William Ruto took the unprecedented step of firing almost all of his cabinet before reconstituting it afresh.

Ruto equally abandoned the controversial Finance Bill 2024, which had been the major bone of contention during the protests.

The months after the protest saw several changes in the structure of government, which seemed like an attempt by Ruto to fix his dwindling popularity.

ODM in government

Ruto extended an olive branch to his erstwhile political nemesis Raila Odinga who offered five of his former party officials to be Cabinet Secretaries in the Kenya-Kwanza government.

In the arrangement, ODM Deputy party leaders Wycliffe Oparanya and Hassan Joho were appointed CS Cooperatives and Mining respectively while former ODM chairman John Mbadi, former Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi and former ODM elections boss Askul Moe were appointed to Finance, Energy and EAC & ASALs dockets respectively.

Ruto would also fall out with his former Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua in the aftermath of the protests.

After his exit, Ruto nominated three cabinet secretaries from the Mount Kenya region in what appeared to be an attempt to stem the growing disquiet in the region.

However, Sifuna maintains that much is needed to be done and despite the president’s association with various leaders, his goose is cooked.

“The most important factor in politics is the people; as long as you have left the people behind, it doesn’t matter how many leaders you have around you,” Sifuna observes.