Safina at 30: Party prepares anniversary amid reflection on past struggles
By Mabonga Makhanu, September 2, 2025Safina Party Deputy Leader Willis Otieno has announced that the party will be celebrating its 30th anniversary on September 18, 2025.
While speaking during an interview on Herman Manyora’s channel on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, he said that on September 18, Safina will be celebrating 30 years since its formation. He explained that the party was founded on the quest for economic justice, adding that the time is ripe for an economic revolution to take root in the country.
According to him, Kenyans need to get their voices heard and transform the political system to focus on empowering people economically, not through promises, sound bites, or tokenism, but through real economic emancipation.
The Safina Party, meaning “Ark” in Swahili, is a Kenyan political party founded in May 1995 by paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey and lawyer Paul Muite, symbolising a vessel for national unity and reform.
Rooted in social democracy, non-violence, and anti-tribalism, the party has sought to ensure equal opportunities for all Kenyans regardless of age, religion, gender, region, race, or ethnicity.
Initially formed during Kenya’s push for multiparty democracy under the Moi regime, Safina faced significant hurdles, including delayed registration until November 1997 and government harassment, with members enduring arrests and intimidation. The party gained traction in the 1990s through opposition alliances and peaked in the 2007 elections, securing five National Assembly seats.
Resurrection of Safina
Though less prominent in recent years and remaining inactive for the recent years, the party’s silence was broken in the run-up to the 2022 general election after presidential aspirant Jimi Wanjigi was chased out of ODM and joined the party.
This followed his demand that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga shelve his presidential bid and support him instead, arguing that he had supported Raila twice before and expected support in return. The fallout turned dramatic when angry ODM supporters confronted him at the party’s headquarters, forcing police to intervene and save him.
Hours later, Wanjigi addressed the press at a Nairobi hotel, lamenting what he described as betrayal by a party he had long supported. Days later, he announced his presidential bid on the Safina ticket, which was welcomed by then-party leader Paul Muite.
Safina’s 2022 NDC
This came as Safina was preparing for its National Delegates Congress, an event that saw Wanjigi invite the now President William Ruto, who attended alongside allies including Musalia Mudavadi. Their presence fuelled speculation of a possible coalition, with many suggesting that Wanjigi would eventually back Ruto. Both sides denied these claims, insisting decisions would be made later. Although Muite and Wanjigi were seen embracing at the meeting, their alliance soon collapsed.
Wanjigi proceeded to vie for the presidency on a Safina ticket, but his ambitions were cut short when the IEBC disqualified him during the verification process. The electoral body cited his lack of a university degree and insufficient signatures as reasons for blocking his candidacy.
Since then, Jimi Wanjigi has been the face of the party, which has had hard phases of being in the limelight and sometimes being buried in the archives.