By The Weekly Vision Political Reporter
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna capped a gruelling three-day sweep through Western Kenya on Sunday, taking his Linda Mwananchi movement into four Kakamega constituencies as he pressed ahead with a grassroots campaign that allies are increasingly framing as the launch pad for a 2027 presidential bid.
The Sunday leg began with a church service at the ACK Cathedral in Mumias Town before the convoy fanned out across Mumias West, Navakholo, Malava and Lugari, ending in Lumakanda. It followed two earlier days of mobilisation through Bumala, Murumba, Butula and Nambale in Busia County on Friday, and a Saturday tour of Sabatia, Isulu and Shinyalu, which culminated in a rally in Kakamega town. At several stops along the route, residents turned out with gifts for the visiting senator, including live chickens and a wooden chair, a customary gesture of welcome that has become a recurring feature of the movement’s grassroots reception in the region.
The most closely watched moment of the weekend came on Saturday at Sabatia Market, where Sifuna made a direct and pointed appeal to Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya, the former two-term Kakamega governor who remains one of the most influential political figures in the region. Describing Oparanya as a father figure who had nurtured him through the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Sifuna told the gathering he was not seeking money, only Oparanya’s endorsement. “I am asking you to bless me as I embark on this journey,” Sifuna said, addressing Oparanya directly before the crowd.
The appeal carries added political weight given that Oparanya’s name has also been floated as a possible running mate for President William Ruto in 2027, a prospect that has already won public backing from ODM National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohamed. Whether Oparanya, a senior figure in Ruto’s broad-based Cabinet, will respond to Sifuna’s overture remains an open question; he had not publicly reacted to the appeal at the time of publication.
Sifuna used the tour to renew his criticism of the Kenya Kwanza administration on multiple fronts. Speaking at Sabatia, he accused the Ruto government of contemplating an incursion into Kakamega Forest, framing it as emblematic of the administration’s poor record on environmental protection. “Ruto alisomea taaluma ya miti na matawi, lakini yeye ndio anaharibu miti Kenya mzima,” Sifuna told the crowd. The senator also urged residents to resist being swayed by campaign handouts ahead of 2027, a message he has repeated at earlier Linda Mwananchi stops in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma. “Eat the money they give you and vote for the right leaders,” he told supporters, framing cash inducements as something to be taken but not allowed to determine the ballot.
Sifuna was accompanied by Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, who recently joined the movement, featured prominently throughout the weekend, while Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi helped drum up turnout in the run-up to the tour.
Khalwale, for his part, used the Butere leg of the tour to place his own political capital squarely behind Sifuna’s ambitions, invoking the legacy of Luhya political icons Martin Shikuku, Michael Kijana Wamalwa and Masinde Muliro. He cast himself as the person who would do the heavy lifting to elevate Sifuna within the community’s political ranks, telling the crowd he considered himself “kiboko ya Oparanya hapa Kakamega”.
The show of support builds on an earlier endorsement from the Luhya Elders Forum, whose deputy chairperson, Noah Wekesa, told a press briefing this month that the community should back Sifuna as the opposition’s preferred presidential candidate, citing his growing national profile.
The Western Kenya push has not gone unchallenged. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has publicly dismissed talk of a Linda Mwananchi “wave,” urging residents to instead rally behind the ruling United Democratic Alliance and the broad-based government arrangement that has drawn some ODM figures into Ruto’s Cabinet.
In Mumias East, MP Peter Salasya has been openly hostile to the movement’s presence, arguing that Sifuna lacks the standing to mount a credible presidential bid and instead throwing his support behind Democratic Action Party-Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa. Some Mumias East residents defied Salasya’s position last month by opening a local Linda Mwananchi office regardless.
