Wiper pushes back on funeral ticket calls as Gachoka urges Kalonzo’s party to back Sifuna

Wiper spokesperson Ndegwa Njiru has rejected the idea of choosing the opposition’s presidential candidate at a funeral, as a separate appeal for his party to support Edwin Sifuna exposed the unresolved contest over who should challenge President William Ruto in 2027.

The two interventions on 4 October followed the burial of Martha Karua’s father, Mwalimu Jackson Karua, in Gichugu, Kirinyaga. That gathering brought several opposition leaders together, but the subsequent statements show that appearing on the same platform has not produced an agreed presidential ticket.

“A critical decision on the selection of the United Alternative Government’s flag bearer cannot be taken at a funeral,” Njiru wrote, according to People Daily’s report of his statement.

His objection concerned the selection process. It did not announce Wiper’s withdrawal from opposition cooperation, name a jointly accepted candidate or describe an agreed procedure for making that choice. Those distinctions matter as supporters of different contenders press their preferred outcomes.

Sifuna’s supporters make their pitch

KANU spokesman Tony Gachoka addressed Njiru publicly on the same day, urging Wiper to join those backing the Nairobi senator. People Daily reported his appeal as a message posted on X.

“I am happy to urge Wiper to join all of us in the Sifuna Presidency,” Gachoka wrote. He argued that cooperation could produce a first-round victory against Ruto. That was his political prediction, not a polling finding or a guaranteed electoral outcome.

The appeal sought Wiper’s support; it did not establish that Kalonzo Musyoka had offered it. Nor did the quoted statement assign Kalonzo the running-mate position. Describing the message as a completed Sifuna–Kalonzo ticket would go beyond what Gachoka actually said.

Sifuna had used the Kirinyaga gathering to press his own case. People Daily’s account of his 3 October remarks says he invited the audience to address the candidate question, citing support from Linda Mwananchi and noting that Kalonzo and Fred Matiang’i were present.

His appeal placed the competition in front of a Mount Kenya audience. It was a campaign intervention by a contender, however, rather than an announcement that the other leaders had accepted his nomination. The report contains no joint declaration settling the ticket.

Uhuru backs a unity message

The pressure for agreement also came from Kirinyaga Woman Representative Njeri Maina. At the burial, she urged the presidential hopefuls to resolve their differences and present one candidate. Former President Uhuru Kenyatta asked the gathering whether it supported her message, Citizen Digital reported.

Uhuru also criticised the choice voters made in the 2022 presidential election. “A mistake is not a mistake unless it is repeated,” he said in Citizen’s account, as he encouraged the audience to reconsider its direction ahead of the next poll.

The former president’s intervention added political weight to the call for unity. It did not identify one of the assembled aspirants as an agreed successor. Support for a common candidate and agreement on that candidate remain separate developments in the reporting available so far.

Karua, meanwhile, emphasised the support her family had received across political divisions. Her father’s burial was a family occasion that also brought political rivals together; the presence of those rivals should not be treated as evidence that private negotiations had reached a conclusion.

Wiper says it remains in the opposition

The ticket debate follows a separate dispute about Wiper’s relationship with the government. In Citizen Digital’s 3 October report, party chairman Jamleck Kamau denied that Kalonzo was preparing to join Ruto’s administration.

Kamau acknowledged that he had initiated contact with Johnstone Muthama and met him twice. He rejected the claim that Muthama had met Kalonzo to persuade him to enter government. “We are in the united opposition to stay,” Kamau said.

The chairman also said Wiper was talking to other figures associated with government, while former ambassador Kiema Kilonzo stressed cooperation among Kamba leaders before wider outreach. These were accounts of political organising, not evidence of a concluded agreement with Ruto.

Taken together, the weekend’s statements show an opposition still debating both its leadership and the terms of cooperation. Gachoka is pressing for Sifuna, Njiru is resisting an improvised selection process, and Wiper’s chairman is defending the party’s place outside government.

The next consequential development would be a decision accepted by the participating parties. Until then, the public pitches should be reported as pitches. Follow Political Headache’s political parties coverage for subsequent announcements and changes to the contest.