Kenya: Uhuru reignites feud with Ruto as 2027 showdown looms

In a rare and stinging public intervention, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta accused President William Ruto of wrecking the gains made under his decade in power, leaving ordinary Kenyans trapped in hardship.

The comments, delivered to ex-ruling Jubilee Party officials in Nairobi, mark the clearest sign yet that the former leader is reentering political combat ahead of the crucial 2027 elections.

“Many of the gains of the past have been eroded and replaced by new, untried and untested schemes,” Uhuru said.

“Kenyans have been left to suffer. Our progress is dragged.”

Uhuru, who stepped down in 2022 after serving the constitutional maximum of two terms, said he had warned voters not to back his deputy of nine years. Instead, he had endorsed veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga.

“In the last general election, I endeavoured to pass this message,” he said. “Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.”

Healthcare, the economy and broken promises

At the heart of Uhuru’s critique is the economy. Kenya is wrestling with a debt burden that has squeezed public finances and forced Ruto’s government into unpopular tax hikes.

A wave of protests last year, led by young Kenyans angry at the rising cost of living, left dozens dead in clashes with police.

Uhuru pointed to the dismantling of Linda Mama, a free maternal health programme that his government launched in 2013.

It has been replaced by Linda Jamii, a contributory scheme under the new Social Health Authority.

Critics say the model excludes vulnerable familiesand struggles with funding shortfalls.

“The promise was free care for mothers and newborns,” Uhuru said. “Now, people must pay before they can be treated.”

Analysts say his intervention is designed not only to expose weaknesses in Ruto’s record, but also to draw a direct line between his policies and those of his successor.

The handshake turned on its head

Uhuru also accused Ruto of hypocrisy over his recent rapprochement with Raila.

In 2018, Uhuru stunned the country by unveiling a political “handshake” with his longtime rival, bringing Raila into government in the name of national cohesion after months of bitter electoral disputes and deadly post-election chaos.

The pact, though controversial, helped cool ethnic tensions and stabilise Uhuru’s second term.

Ruto, then deputy president, fiercely opposed the move, branding it a betrayal of their 2013 alliance and warning it would distort Kenya’s democracy.

He accused Uhuru of sidelining him in favour of Raila, an animosity that deepened the rift between the two men and set the stage for their eventual split in the run-up to the 2022 elections.

But the same Ruto who condemned the handshake has now embraced Raila himself.

After a bruising start in office marked by public protests, economic headwinds and waning legitimacy, Ruto reached out to Raila, inviting him into a broad-based government and awarding several of his allies senior cabinet positions.

For Uhuru, the about-face highlights Ruto’s inconsistency. “When I worked to bring greater cohesion and reduce ethnic tensions, it was used against us in the last campaigns,” he said.

“It was called an attempt to erode democracy. I wonder what they call theirs today.”

Attacking from within

In December 2024, after sealing his own political handshake with Raila, Ruto reshuffled his cabinet and brought in five high-profile figures from the Mt Kenya region, many of them once close to Uhuru.

They included Mutahi Kagwe, named cabinet secretary for agriculture; Lee Kinyanjui, who took over the trade ministry; and former Kiambu governor William Kabogo, now heading information, communication and the digital economy.

For analysts, the move was double-edged: an effort to weaken Uhuru’s base while also binding some of his former allies to Ruto’s camp.

It underscored how central Mt Kenya has become to Ruto’s survival. Home to more than six million registered voters, the region has historically been the kingmaker in Kenya’s elections.

Whoever secures its backing usually gains a decisive edge in the national tally.

But Mt Kenya politics have grown more volatile since the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua in 2024.

Once Ruto’s deputy and presumed regional pointman, Gachagua has reinvented himself as the president’s fiercest rival, criss-crossing the mountain in a bid to reclaim its vote.

He has painted Ruto as an outsider with little organic support in the region, a dangerous narrative for a president whose 2022 victory depended heavily on Mt Kenya turnout.

“Uhuru Kenyatta is officially stepping back into the political spotlight from retirement,” political analyst Wycliffe Odera told The Africa Report.

“He is sending a strong message that President Ruto will not be his preferred candidate in 2027.”

Uhuru’s Jubilee Party has already endorsed former interior minister Fred Matiang’i as its presidential flagbearer for 2027 and is quietly mobilising in the vote-rich Mt Kenya.

“A new political battle is coming between Uhuru and Gachagua over who controls the region’s vote,” Odera adds. “That vote is likely to determine who wins the presidency.”

Some of Ruto’s former allies have also rallied behind Uhuru. Moses Kuria, who resigned as a senior economic adviser to the president in July, declared: “I stand with Uhuru. He has every right to express his views about everything and anything.”

‘Retire from politics, stop inciting Kenyans‘

Ruto’s allies have struck back with equal force, accusing the former leader of stoking unrest to regain political relevance.

Deputy president Kithure Kindiki described Uhuru’s comments as “insincere and politically motivated”.

He added: “Those criticising us should go ahead, but let them be truthful and not spread lies.”

Vincent Kawaya, the ruling party’s national organising secretary, said “Uhuru Kenyatta should retire honourably and stop lecturing those who are fixing the mess he left behind.”

Geoffrey Ruku, cabinet secretary for public service, accused the former president of acting as a proxy for the opposition. “

The former president is now engaged in opposition politics and inciting Kenyans against a legitimately elected government,” he said at a public gathering.

For analyst Edwin Kegoli, the escalation was predictable. “These are not surprising. They are early signs of the bitter political confrontationsbetween the two.

“The gloves are off between Ruto and Uhuru,” he adds. With the 2027 elections already taking shape, he predicted a rerun of the 2022 contest but with higher stakes.

“This will result in severe political consequences, with Gachagua at the losing end,” Kegoli adds, arguing that Uhuru is determined to rebrand Jubilee in its former Mt Kenya stronghold.

The rancour has already spilled into the streets. In January, Ruto accused Uhuru of inciting young people after the former president urged Gen Z demonstrators to “keep fighting for their rights” following the deadly anti-government protests of June 2024.

(The Africa Report)