Jubilee presidential candidate Fred Matiang'i, DAP-K leader Eugene Wamalwa and former President Uhuru Kenyatta during the 24th anniversary of former Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa on August 23, 2026. [Osinde Obare, Standard]
By now, it is clear that there is no love lost between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his successor, Dr William Ruto.
It is also proving difficult to convince Mr Kenyatta to start trusting Rigathi Gachagua, the man who so openly and repeatedly stabbed him in the back just a few years ago.
Still, the opposite of love is not hate, and the opposite of hate is not love. Life has a way of teaching us this difficult lesson by turning people who intensely love each other today into bitter enemies tomorrow and forcing people who intensely hate each other today into inseparable sweethearts tomorrow.
It is only when we are forced to choose whom to love between two people, we hate that we often find ourselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea—a position that Uhuru now finds himself in ahead of the 2027 presidential elections.
It is a tricky position for the former president to be in. If he chooses either Ruto or Mr Gachagua, he will lose. If he chooses neither, his influence will quickly fade away, and he and the entire Kenyatta family could become irrelevant in Kenyan politics.
So far, Uhuru has no reason to trust either man.