Kindiki Dismisses Sifuna’s Presidential Bid, Warns Gachagua at Meru Rally
September 2026
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki dismissed Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna’s presidential ambitions and warned former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Friday, September 4, 2026, while addressing United Democratic Alliance (UDA) grassroots officials at Kinoru Stadium in Meru town. Kindiki told the gathering that Sifuna, who leads the Linda Mwananchi Movement’s push against President William Ruto’s re-election, was touring the country without any concrete plan for the country.
Kindiki Targets Sifuna’s Bid
People Daily reports that Sifuna “has no agenda for this nation” and is “just going around addressing people without an agenda for the nation,” with Kindiki adding that the senator thinks a crowd is the same as votes. The remarks came days after Sifuna toured parts of the Meru region seeking support and urging residents to back him over Ruto in 2027, per People Daily’s coverage.
Kindiki argued that turnout at rallies does not translate into ballots. “Kenyans are not stupid,” he said, insisting voters would judge leaders on development records rather than rhetoric. People Daily’s report notes that he made the remarks while addressing more than 30,000 UDA grassroots leaders at the stadium, though Mwakilishi’s separate account of the same event put the number of polling station officials present at over 20,000.
Warning Aimed At Gachagua
Kindiki did not stop at Sifuna. The Deputy President also cautioned Gachagua against what he called sponsoring political challengers to destabilise the Kenya Kwanza administration, saying the government would not be intimidated by emerging opposition figures ahead of 2027, as People Daily first reported. He warned he would expose Gachagua’s own record in government should the attacks continue.
The exchange is the latest in a long-running public feud between the two men that has played out at rallies and on social media for weeks. This time, though, the focus shifted from personal jabs toward Kindiki’s broader argument that opposition figures, Sifuna included, lack a governing track record to point to.
Citing The Development Record
In a piece for The Star, Kindiki is quoted telling the same Kinoru Stadium crowd, “We are not afraid, we are not in any doubt,” as he challenged opposition leaders to take their own records to voters rather than rely on campaign promises. The Star’s report adds that he urged Kenyans to assess leaders strictly on what they had achieved in office.
Mwakilishi’s coverage of the gathering says Kindiki pointed to lower fertiliser and maize flour prices, new classrooms and laboratories, and continued teacher recruitment as evidence of government delivery. He also cited the Taifa Care health scheme, which he said now covers more than 32 million Kenyans, up from roughly eight million under the old NHIF system. For Meru specifically, he announced Sh1 billion to upgrade Meru Level Five Hospital to Level Six status and cited Sh44 billion earmarked for over 500 kilometres of new tarmac roads in the county.
Telling the officials “You are the party,” Kindiki urged them to carry that message of delivery directly to voters at the grassroots, since national leaders based in Nairobi cannot reach every household themselves.
What Comes Next
Neither Sifuna nor Gachagua has publicly responded to Friday’s remarks as of this writing, and past exchanges between Kindiki and Gachagua suggest a reply is likely within days rather than weeks. Sifuna’s Linda Mwananchi Movement has kept up a rally schedule through several regions this year, and how he answers a direct dismissal of his agenda from the country’s second-highest office may shape whether the 2027 contest turns more on rival development records or on the personal broadsides that have dominated recent months.
