Matiang'i takes Jubilee to the Coast and wins Kadu Asili

Jubilee Party leader Fred Matiang'i began a five-day tour of the Coast on Monday 5 October, covering Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Taita Taveta and Kwale. It is his first major regional outing since former President Uhuru Kenyatta handed him the party leadership on 22 September.

The first day produced the headline. Kadu Asili party leader Mudzo Nzili endorsed Matiang'i's presidential bid after talks in Mombasa.

“Today, I held discussions with the leadership of KADU Asili Party on strengthening our working relationship,” Matiang'i said. “I am grateful to KADU Asili Party Leader Mudzo Nzili and his team for their confidence in my presidential candidature.”

What the parties discussed

The talks covered land ownership and squatters, mining concessions at Mrima, marine and blue economy resources, and jobs at the Kenya Ports Authority. These are long-running Coast grievances that every presidential campaign promises to address.

Jubilee confirmed it is discussing a cooperation framework with Kadu Asili and other like-minded parties. Kadu Asili revived its structures earlier this year under Nzili and plans to field candidates for seats other than the presidency, while expanding beyond the Coast.

Matiang'i also pledged support for the proposed Coast Region Integrated Development Plan for 2027 to 2037. He did not set out what the plan contains or how it would be funded.

Building the party on the ground

Later on Monday, Matiang'i met Jubilee aspirants from across Mombasa County at Bahari Beach Resort in Nyali. “We reaffirmed our commitment to unity, mutual trust and a strong, inclusive party,” he said.

On Tuesday he moved to Kilifi. “This afternoon, I opened the Jubilee Party office at Kwa Charo Wamae in Kilifi North Constituency,” he said. He met delegates and local leaders and visited a market. “We remain committed to strengthening our party from the grassroots,” he said.

Party offices, aspirant meetings and local delegates are the unglamorous part of a campaign. They matter more than rally crowds for a party that must field candidates across hundreds of seats in August 2027.

Matiang'i arrives with a mandate that is still new. Jubilee endorsed him as its presidential candidate in October 2025, and Kenyatta later asked the party to accept him as leader. “I want to ask you respectfully to accept Fred Matiang'i to take the position of Jubilee party leader,” Kenyatta had told party members. The Coast tour is the first real test of whether that endorsement travels beyond the party's traditional base.

The handover was not smooth for everyone. Jeremiah Kioni, Jubilee's long-serving secretary-general, had been seen as a contender, as we set out when the succession debate put Matiang'i and Kioni in focus. Kioni has since questioned Jubilee's place in Kalonzo Musyoka's Ukombozi Alliance, which makes Matiang'i's choice of partners on the Coast a signal of where he wants the party to sit.

UDA hits back

The tour drew a sharp response from UDA secretary-general Hassan Omar Sarai, a Mombasa politician. He accused Matiang'i of using the visit to push presidential ambitions rather than address the Coast's development problems.

Omar also attacked Matiang'i's record as Interior Cabinet Secretary under Kenyatta. “You do not deserve to go to State House; you deserve to go to prison,” he said. He also made an allegation about missing young people during the Kenyatta years, without offering evidence.

Matiang'i is entitled to the presumption of innocence and has not been charged with any offence linked to his time at Interior. Questions about policing and enforced disappearances during that period are legitimate and deserve answers through proper inquiries, not campaign insults. The same standard applies to the current administration.

A crowded Coast

Matiang'i is not alone. His tour follows an eight-day Coast visit by President William Ruto. And Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has announced his own two-day Mombasa tour, starting on Friday 9 October with stops in Changamwe and Mwembe Tayari, and continuing on Saturday with an aspirants' meeting, Junda in Kisauni and Shanzu.

Kalonzo's poster featured DAP-K leader Eugene Wamalwa, Nyali MP Mohamed Ali and Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi.

That sets up a revealing contrast. Matiang'i says he wants a single opposition ticket. “We remain focused on building a broad, united and purposeful movement that offers Kenyans credible leadership,” he said in Mombasa. Kalonzo says the same. Yet both are building separate structures in the same county in the same week.

Why it matters

The opposition's main argument for 2027 is that it can beat Ruto only with one candidate. Each regional endorsement like Kadu Asili's strengthens a contender's hand in the eventual negotiation over that ticket. It also raises the cost of stepping aside.

For Coast voters, the more useful question is not who has the most endorsements but who has specific, costed answers on land titles, the Mrima mining dispute, the blue economy and port jobs. So far, the tour has produced topics discussed, not commitments.

What to watch

Watch the remaining tour stops in Tana River, Taita Taveta and Kwale, and whether Jubilee announces more party offices or defections. Watch whether the Jubilee and Kadu Asili framework is written down and lodged as a coalition agreement, which is what makes it count in law.

Watch Kalonzo's Mombasa visit on 9 and 10 October, and whether the two camps clash over the same aspirants. And watch whether Matiang'i responds to Omar's attack, or leaves it to his allies.