Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei during a rally in Kapsabet town on March 13, 2026. /SAMSON CHERARGEI/XNandi Senator Samson Cherargei has said political parties allied to the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance must dissolve and merge with the United Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2027 General Election or risk being locked out of key government and parliamentary positions.
Cherargei said smaller affiliate parties in the coalition should fold and join UDA in order to strengthen President William Ruto’s re-election bid and consolidate the alliance into a single, formidable political vehicle, barely a year-and-a-half away from the forthcoming polls.
“Those who are in a coalition with UDA, we want to ask them to dissolve those small parties so that we get into a bigger ship called UDA. We cannot be having a big ship and you're just having a boat,” he said during a public event in Nandi county.
Formed in January 2022, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance rode to victory in the 2022 General Election on a “hustler” narrative centred on economic empowerment framed on the Bottom-UP Economic Agenda.
The coalition currently enjoys majority status in both the National Assembly and Senate, giving it control of government.
The ruling alliance brings together more than a dozen affiliate parties, including Ruto’s UDA, the FORD–Kenya party led by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula, and the Amani National Congress (ANC) associated with Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi.
ANC formally dissolved and merged with UDA on February 7, 2025, in a move that saw its assets transferred to the ruling party and its members integrated into the larger political outfit.
However, the dissolution triggered a legal dispute.
In January 2026, the High Court of Kenya ruled that the party’s dissolution and merger with UDA were unlawful and unconstitutional, finding that the process violated the party’s constitution and did not adequately involve its members.
Despite the ruling, UDA has maintained that the decision to dissolve ANC was voluntary and had already taken effect, describing the court ruling as one overtaken by events.
According to Cherargei, other affiliate parties should follow the same path if the coalition is to remain united ahead of what observers expect to be a high-stakes 2027 contest between Ruto and a united opposition bloc.
“Those that won't dissolve their parties, when UDA and President Ruto return in 2027, they will not get Cabinet seats or even the speaker,” Cherargei warned.
His remarks mirror calls by Ruto, the UDA party leader, who has repeatedly advocated the consolidation of smaller parties into a single political formation to minimise competition within the coalition and strengthen its electoral prospects.
Supporters of the approach argue that merging affiliate parties into a larger entity eliminates rivalry among allies in the same political strongholds, creating a unified voting bloc and reducing the risk of narrow electoral victories or losses.
It is also intended to avert situations where coalition partners use their party strength to negotiate for government positions after elections.
Cherargei welcomed the emerging cooperation between UDA and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), describing it as a strategic step towards building a broad-based government and securing Ruto’s second term in office.
The outspoken legislator dismissed claims that the united opposition poses a significant threat to the President’s re-election bid.
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