Sifuna Hints at 2027 Presidential Run, Puts Linda Mwananchi at a Crossroads
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna sparked fresh speculation about a 2027 presidential run on Saturday, telling supporters at a Linda Mwananchi Movement rally in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County, that the youth he encounters across the country no longer want to call him Secretary-General — they insist on addressing him as “His Excellency.”
Key points
- Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna hinted at a 2027 presidential bid at a Linda Mwananchi rally in Mwatate, Taita Taveta.
- Sifuna said supporters now insist on calling him 'His Excellency' rather than his former Secretary-General title.
- He noted he was stripped of his deputy minority whip Senate role and ODM Secretary-General position.
- Sifuna cautioned that social media enthusiasm and packed rallies do not automatically translate to votes.
The remark stopped short of a formal declaration but was widely read as the clearest signal yet that the Nairobi senator is contemplating a State House run.
“They have taken away everything ‘Baba’ gave me. They removed me as deputy minority whip in the Senate and also stripped me of the ODM Secretary-General position. But the youth have said they will give me the title of ‘His Excellency,’” Sifuna told the crowd, according to reporting by Tuko.co.ke. He followed with a pointed message to those who had demoted him: “They can strip me of titles, but they cannot take away my intellect or the support of the people. Leadership comes from the people.”
Even as the crowd responded warmly, Sifuna urged caution, warning that social media enthusiasm and packed rallies must ultimately convert into actual votes at the polling station — a quiet acknowledgement that his road to 2027 remains anything but assured.
The Taita Taveta tour, which also covered Voi and Wundanyi, drew a coalition of prominent opposition figures. Siaya Governor James Orengo, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, former Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo, and Kisumu Senate aspirant Willis Raburu all flanked Sifuna on the platform. Orengo was blunter than the senator about the movement’s ambitions. “Who has told you that Linda Mwananchi does not have a presidential candidate?” the governor challenged critics who had suggested the bloc lacked a flagbearer for 2027.
The Linda Mwananchi Movement — the name translates loosely as “protect the ordinary citizen” — has emerged from within the Orange Democratic Movement as a faction opposed to the party’s participation in President William Ruto’s broad-based government. Orengo levelled sharp criticism at what he called a rival internal faction, “Linda Tumbo,” accusing it of operating under State House direction: “Their decisions are no longer made at Chungwa House; they are dictated directly from State House.”
A significant structural obstacle, however, stands between the movement’s rally energy and the ballot box. Linda Mwananchi is not a registered political party and therefore has no legal mechanism to nominate candidates for elective office — a gap that must be resolved well before 2027 if it is to translate nationwide grassroots momentum into formal electoral participation.
Sifuna’s recent political trajectory has been one of rapid reversal and reinvention. Removed first from his ODM Secretary-General post and then from his Senate Deputy Minority Whip role — with Migori Senator Eddy Oketch named as his replacement — the Nairobi lawmaker has recast each demotion as fuel for a broader personal narrative, allowing supporters to supply the presidential title he has not yet formally claimed for himself.
Sources: Nation.Africa, Tuko.co.ke, Kenyan Post.