Alego Usonga MP Sam Atandi has stated that the Linda Mwananchi rally, scheduled to take place in Kisumu, will not proceed.

While speaking during an interview on the Herman Manyora podcast aired on Thursday, April 23, 2026, the outspoken budget committee chair said Kisumu residents are not interested in the rally and will not attend it.

“First of all, it will not happen, so there is nothing that will make the rally successful. The rally can only happen if the people of that area are interested in it.”

He further stated that the Linda Mwananchi team plans to import youths from various universities around Kisumu to attend their highly publicised event, as he believes the people of Kisumu are not interested in the rally.

Atandi continued to cast doubt on the Sifuna-led rally, saying it can only be successful if it receives goodwill from the people of Kisumu—something he claimed is lacking, insisting that locals will not turn up.

“There is no mwananchi who wants to attend the rally. What I have been told is that they are organising university students from Maseno and various institutions around Kisumu. People of Kisumu are not interested in that rally.”

Linda Mwananchi Kisumu rally

The Linda Mwananchi team has insisted that they will proceed with their planned political rally in Kisumu, stating that the event will go on “come rain, come sunshine”.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has maintained that, with or without what he termed asgoons, the rally must be held in the lakeside city.

The Kisumu rally was triggered by an earlier incident in which one of the movement’s principals, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, was injured by individuals believed to be goons, leading to his hospitalisation at Karen Hospital for three days. In what can be described as an act of defiance, they resolved to hold a rally in Kisumu City to send a message that they cannot be intimidated or silenced through violence.

The group emphasised that their decision to stage the rally in the same region where one of their leaders was attacked is meant to reaffirm their presence and assert that their constitutional rights to freedom of movement and expression must be respected.

Linda Mwananchi’s packed itinerary

On the eve of the Kisumu event, the team is set to embark on a series of tours in Vihiga County on Saturday, April 25, 2026. The maiden rally will take place at Majengo, then Shamakhokho, before proceeding to Luanda Market, the home area of Osotsi, for special prayers. They will then make a final entry into Kisumu City for the lakeside rally the following day on Sunday, April 26, 2026.