Uhuru quits Azimio council chair as opposition regroups

Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has resigned as chairperson of the Azimio la Umoja Council, the governing body of the opposition coalition now rebranded as The Ukombozi Alliance (TUA). His letter is dated Monday 5 October 2026 and became public on Wednesday 7 October, when coalition leader Kalonzo Musyoka confirmed he had received it.

“I am writing to formally resign from my leadership position within the Azimio La Umoja Coalition, effective immediately,” Kenyatta wrote. He added that he remained “a committed member of the Azimio family.”

The letter was addressed to Kalonzo and copied to the coalition's National Steering Committee. It came 15 days after Kenyatta handed the Jubilee Party leadership to Fred Matiang'i on 22 September.

What Kenyatta said

Kenyatta tied the decision to the Jubilee handover and presented it as renewal rather than retreat. “This decision is not a departure from our shared political journey, but a necessary step in the continuous renewal” of the coalition, he said. Leadership, he added, “is not the clinging to the front of the current; it is the courage to step aside.”

The background is legal as well as political. Kenyatta announced his Jubilee exit on 15 September after a High Court ruling enforced Section 6 of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, which bars a retired president from holding party office more than six months after leaving office. He said then that he would remain a Jubilee member and senior adviser.

Kenyatta has not said publicly whether the same law was the reason for leaving the coalition post. The full letter has not been published.

Kalonzo: two offices, no vacuum

Kalonzo moved quickly to close any suggestion of a leadership gap. “There is no vacuum at the helm of Ukombozi, and no change in the party's leadership, direction or programme,” he said in a statement.

His argument rests on the coalition's structure. “The Party Leader and the Chair of Council are two distinct offices, and they have never been one and the same,” he said. The party leader, he said, is the political and executive head, and his own office “is unaffected by President Kenyatta's resignation.”

Kalonzo described the council chair as a role of counsel and guidance, while the party leader runs daily affairs and deals with the Registrar of Political Parties. He said the alliance would invite Kenyatta for an official visit and a formal handover ceremony. No date has been given.

Kalonzo also said the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties had reserved the name The Ukombozi Alliance, and that the party was completing its remaining compliance requirements.

Who could take the chair

Two names are already circulating in opposition circles for the vacant chair: Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua, and Siaya Governor James Orengo as a possible co-chair. Neither appointment has been confirmed by the alliance or by the two men, and the names should be treated as proposals.

The Gachagua option has an obvious problem. On 23 September, DCP deputy leader Cleophas Malala said the party would not join the alliance. “We as DCP cannot join the Ukombozi Alliance,” he said. DCP, he said, would first form a coalition with Senator Edwin Sifuna's camp and negotiate with TUA later.

The alliance's current line-up has Kalonzo as party leader, Martha Karua as deputy leader and Caroli Omondi as secretary-general. The expanded council includes Matiang'i, Peter Munya and Lenny Kivuti. The alliance has also invited Kawira Mwangaza's Umoja na Maendeleo Party, Omingo Magara's People's Democratic Party and Justin Muturi's Democratic Party.

Kioni's question

Within a day, a senior Jubilee figure was asking what his party was doing in the arrangement. “I really don't understand what we are doing as Jubilee in this whole Azimio/Ukombozi arrangement,” Jeremiah Kioni posted on X on 8 October.

The opposition, he wrote, “should be thinking beyond the old formations and working towards a new, genuinely inclusive coalition.” Kioni, long Jubilee's secretary-general, has also said he was disappointed to miss out on the party leadership that Kenyatta handed to Matiang'i.

Kioni's remarks matter because Jubilee was one of the founding pillars of Azimio. If its own officials doubt the value of membership after Kenyatta's exit, the alliance may be losing weight even as it gains a new name.

Why it matters

Kenyatta's council role was largely symbolic, but symbols count in coalition politics. His presence signalled that the Azimio project which backed Raila Odinga in 2022 still had a senior patron. His departure leaves Kalonzo formally in charge, but also more exposed.

The opposition's stated plan is to back a single presidential candidate against President William Ruto. The main contenders, including Kalonzo, Gachagua, Matiang'i, Sifuna and former Chief Justice David Maraga, are not in the same vehicle. DCP is outside TUA. Sifuna has taken over The Equitable Party. Matiang'i leads Jubilee, whose officials are now questioning TUA.

A coalition chair can act as broker between such camps. Offering the post to Gachagua would be an attempt to bring DCP inside without first settling the presidential ticket. Whether Gachagua wants a council seat in an alliance his party has refused to join is another question.

The rebrand itself has been contested. Sifuna's allies have disputed Kalonzo's claim to the Ukombozi name, and the alliance announced the change only in September, as we noted when Kalonzo unveiled the rebranding.

What to watch

First, whether TUA formally names a new council chair, and whether it is Gachagua, Orengo or someone else. Second, whether the handover ceremony with Kenyatta takes place, and what he says there.

Third, Jubilee's position. If Matiang'i backs Kioni's call for a new coalition, the alliance loses a founding party. If he does not, Kioni's comments may remain a personal complaint.

Finally, the registration of The Ukombozi Alliance itself. Until it is complete, the coalition's legal shape, and who controls it, remain open to challenge.