NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 21 – The Equitable Party Leader, Edwin Sifuna, has questioned why government leaders react angrily to scrutiny of their performance, accusing them of resorting to insults when challenged on issues affecting Kenyans.
The 2027 presidential hopeful said questions about government programmes, including the affordable housing agenda, have drawn personal attacks on critics instead of substantive responses.
Speaking amid calls for restraint in political discourse, Sifuna said he had become a target of insults from government leaders, despite what he described as his attempts to raise issues of public concern.
“The person standing in front of you is a victim and the recipient of the heaviest insults from everybody in government today, and I am happy that Ole Kaparo, as an elder statesman, has put out the call for everybody to stop insults in politics,” he said.
Sifuna questioned the hostility directed at those seeking answers from the government, citing the names and labels he said had been used against him and other critics.
“I do not understand why everybody in the government is angry. People are upset. You ask questions about housing; they call you Mr Empty, instant coffee, mafala, they tell us that we have no agenda nor brains,” he said.
Sifuna’s complaints come against the backdrop of a series of public attacks by President William Ruto, who has repeatedly mocked the Nairobi senator over his political ambitions, the launch of The Equitable Party and his criticism of the government’s affordable housing programme.
During his North Rift tour last week, Ruto branded Sifuna “Mr Empty”, dismissed his party as lacking substance and questioned his suitability for the presidency, while also ridiculing his appearance at a concert featuring Congolese musician Koffi Olomide.
The President has also challenged Sifuna’s pledge to scrap the housing levy, arguing that doing so would threaten jobs created through the affordable housing programme. Sifuna has countered by criticising the deductions imposed on salaried workers and promising to abolish the levy if elected in 2027.
The exchanges have since extended to Sifuna’s political associations, with his meeting with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at Wamunyoro in Nyeri County on Tuesday attracting fresh criticism from government allies.
It is against this backdrop that Sifuna has questioned the hostility directed at him and other critics, arguing that policy questions are increasingly being met with personal insults rather than substantive responses.
He also criticised what he portrayed as attempts to dictate where political leaders could associate, saying his recent appearance with another individual had triggered questions about his presence in a particular region.
“Yesterday, some people saw me somewhere with someone, and somehow they are telling us that there is a region in this country where none of us is supposed to associate with,” he said.
Sifuna said the Linda Mwananchi faction would seek to restore a sense of national unity and freedom of association, invoking Kenya’s independence in 1963 as a reference point.
“I want to assure that we will restore the feeling that was in our country in 1963,” he added.
Earlier, Linda Mwananchi Movement Head of Communications Pauline Njoroge had accused supporters of President William Ruto of applying double standards in their criticism of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna’s meeting with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Njoroge, in a post on X, questioned why individuals who support Ruto’s administration were condemning Sifuna for meeting Gachagua while, in her view, overlooking allegations of abductions, killings and injuries involving young Kenyans during protests.
“When our young people were being brutalized, Gachagua who was the Deputy President held a press conference in Mombasa and publicly condemned what was happening. You cannot conveniently erase that while defending the administration under which those atrocities occurred,” she argued.
Njoroge also revisited the 2024 Finance Bill controversy, arguing that Ruto pushed for the legislation while Gachagua opposed it.
She said the political divisions that emerged during that period marked a turning point, insisting that the issues raised by young protesters should not be forgotten in current political discussions.