Matiang’i Isn’t a Comeback; It’s a Hostage Situation. Kenyans Must Say No.

By Fred Nyankuru

Let’s not be fooled. The political whispers are getting louder, and they should send a chill down the spine of every Kenyan who cares about this country’s future. The news that former President Uhuru Kenyatta is preparing to hand over the Jubilee Party to Fred Matiang’i isn’t a simple power transfer. It’s a brazen attempt to repackage the past and sell it to us as something new.

This confirms a truth many of us have felt in our bones for months: Matiang’i is not the reformer he’s painted to be. He is a meticulously crafted project, a Trojan horse built and polished by the very elite who have held our nation hostage for decades.

Think about it. Uhuru Kenyatta is the undeniable face of Kenya’s oligarchy —the system that hollowed out our economy, buried us under a mountain of debt, and made “state capture” a household term. And now, he wants to gift-wrap his entire political machine and hand it to his former enforcer. This isn’t a partnership; it’s a master passing the keys of his impunity-mobile to his most trusted driver.

Let’s be clear about Matiang’i’s record. As Interior CS, he wasn’t just a civil servant; he was the iron fist of the Jubilee regime. He was the architect of brutal crackdowns, the man who treated court orders as mere suggestions, and the engineer of a pervasive culture of fear. When the state needed to silence dissent, it was Matiang’i who was sent to do the dirty work.

Now, the same people who benefited from that system are spending fortunes on PR firms to scrub his image. They want us to see a “stern, no-nonsense reformer.” But we remember the reality. Behind that stern face is a man bound by loyalty to the cartels and dynasties that thrived under his watch. This isn’t a new chapter; it’s the same old book with a flashy new cover.

Make no mistake, this goes far beyond the crumbling walls of the Jubilee Party. Whether Matiang’i takes over Jubilee or is parachuted into another vehicle is irrelevant. The real danger is the man himself and the powerful, shadowy network he answers to.

This move is the oligarchy’s declaration to the nation: “We are not done with you. We will regroup, we will rebrand, and we are coming back through this man.”

If we fall for it, if we shrug and say “politics as usual,” then we have learned absolutely nothing from the pain and frustration of the last decade.

Kenya deserves Leaders, not Lords. Kenya is screaming for real leadership, not another strongman draped in the language of reform. We are tired of leaders who see our institutions as their personal toys and the constitution as a hurdle to be bypassed. What we desperately need is sober, principled, and accountable leadership. We need leaders who wake up thinking about how to serve the people, not how to please the cartels that have sucked this nation dry.

That’s why stopping this project is more urgent than blindly rallying behind any alternative. Matiang’i represents the continuation of the very rot Kenyans thought they had voted out in 2022. He is the past, desperately trying to rent a room in our future.

Fred Matiang’i is not the future. He is the oligarchy’s insurance policy. Their Plan B. Their wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Kenya must reject this cynical project with the same fierce determination we have mustered against impunity before. To allow him to march into State House under any party banner isn’t progress. It’s a national suicide mission, written, produced, and directed by the same forces that brought us to the brink. We owe our children more than that. We must say no.