OMWENGA: Matiang’i vs Kalonzo: Who will fly United Opposition flag?

I have many memories from the years I spent campaigning with our late friend, Raila Amolo Odinga. One in particular has stayed with me, and I’ve often used it to put out fires on social media whenever supporters got carried away defending their preferred candidate.

It speaks to a truth many keyboard warriors never grasp—or grasp only after they’ve already made themselves look uncouth.

I’m talking about the habit of hurling insults at presidential candidates simply because “their side” is doing the same. I would remind people that if they knew what really happens behind the scenes—and I say this as someone who witnessed it many times at Wilson Airport after campaign rallies—they would understand how foolish it is to waste energy on insults.

Here is what actually happens.

Campaign helicopters must return to Wilson Airport by a certain time. So, after a long day of rallies where candidates have been tearing into each other, they all end up crammed into the same small waiting area, side by side, waiting for their vehicles.

And in that brief interlude, something remarkable happens: the same people who were trading barbs on stage are cracking jokes, laughing and chatting like old friends. The laughter is genuine, the camaraderie real.

Their supporters never see this. All they hear are the insults, the slights, the put‑downs—and they mimic them with even more venom. That disconnect has done real damage to the quality of our political discourse. We have reached a point where insults are the staple, and serious discussion of issues is the exception.

Yet, despite this decline, the two leading contenders poised to challenge the incumbent in 2027 are not known for trading insults.

In fact, I cannot recall either of them stooping to that level, even when provoked. Just the other day, when the President attacked Fred Matiang’i, many expected a fiery response. If it had been another candidate, the exchange would have escalated into something regrettable.

But Matiang’i responded in the manner consistent with who he is: a Seventh‑day Adventist, a disciplined and serious public servant, and a man who does not indulge in pettiness. He simply reminded the head of state, politely but firmly, where he is from and why such attacks are beneath the dignity of the office.

Why Ruto suddenly chose to attack the Jubilee deputy leader is a subject for another day. What followed, however, was telling: a coordinated effort to spread falsehoods about the ongoing discussions within the United Opposition regarding the choice of flagbearer.

If you have seen or heard these narratives, understand them for what they are—propaganda, distortions and outright lies. And we are not even close to the formal campaign period.

If this is the level of misinformation now, imagine what it will look like a year from today.

But unlike 2022—when one could argue the incumbent benefitted from both legacy media and social media—the landscape in 2027 will be different.

The goodwill that once favoured the incumbent has evaporated. Both mainstream and digital platforms are now more likely to amplify the challenger than the President, and that shift is entirely self‑inflicted.

There is one question nearly everyone is asking: between Matiang’i and former VP Kalonzo, who is better positioned to defeat the incumbent in 2027? The rumours flying around claim to have the answer, but those rumours are propaganda—nothing more.

The truth will reveal itself soon enough. And as Matiang’i has consistently said, the United Opposition’s flagbearer must emerge from a credible, scientific process. If that process is done correctly, it will deliver the candidate best prepared for the battle ahead.

Until then, ignore everything you see or hear flying around about who has been “selected” to be the candidate. There is no such selection that has taken place.

When it happens, it’ll be open, transparent and fair as we demand our elections to be; the latter having not happened since 2002, a phenomenon which shall repeat itself in 2027 given all these dynamics in place.

And what an irony it would be indeed that retired President Uhuru Kenyatta will have a big say in that.