Fault lines beneath Mulembe's United Opposition

Mulembe unity faces fresh cracks as leaders jostle for influence ahead of 2027. [Courtesy, Meta]

For a community that has spent months talking about unity, the events at Gloria Khalwale’s burial in Malinya offered a revealing glimpse of what lies beneath the surface of the Mulembe political family.

The leaders may be walking under the same opposition umbrella, sharing platforms and speaking of a common political future, but yesterday, the smiles briefly gave way to something more difficult to hide: the contest over who should lead, who should follow and, perhaps most importantly, who should have the final word.

What happened in Malinya was more than an exchange of political remarks. It was a rare public display of the disagreements that have quietly followed the Mulembe leadership question into the 2027 election conversation.

The first crack appeared even before Mumias East MP Peter Salasya took the microphone. Senator Boni Khalwale, who was serving as the master of ceremonies, appeared ready for him.

“I would love to welcome Salasya. You have been saying silly words about Sifuna. Try it here in Malinya,” Khalwale warned, drawing attention from the crowd before Salasya had even begun his address.

Salasya nevertheless went ahead with his message, one that appeared conciliatory but landed directly in the middle of the region's political fault line.

He called on DAP-Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna to sit down and agree on who should carry the opposition's presidential ticket in 2027.

“I want Wamalwa and Sifuna to sit together and decide who is going to be the running mate,” Salasya said.

It was a call for negotiation, but Khalwale was having none of it. The Kakamega Senator immediately rejected the suggestion that Sifuna and Wamalwa needed to negotiate over the ticket, instead insisting that Wamalwa should simply back Sifuna.

“Young man, listen very well. There will be no meeting between Wamalwa and Sifuna. Wamalwa, come and talk and accept that you are behind Sifuna and we all support him,” Khalwale said.

Then came the moment that perhaps spoke louder than any political speech. Wamalwa was invited to the podium and he did not come.

Khalwale told the crowd that the DAP-K leader was still deciding whether to take the stage, before moving on.

“Honourable Eugene Wamalwa is still thinking whether to come or not, and this is a funeral and not a rally. We move on,” Khalwale said.

It was a small moment, but politically, it was difficult to ignore.

For months, questions have been raised about Wamalwa's place in the emerging opposition arrangement and his relationship with Sifuna's Linda Mwananchi movement. His absence from some of Sifuna's political platforms has increasingly become a subject of discussion.

In Malinya, however, the disagreement was no longer something being whispered behind closed doors. It was unfolding before mourners and political supporters.

But the contest did not end there. When DCP deputy party leader Cleophas Malala took the microphone, he sought to position himself firmly behind Sifuna, saying he was already working to build support for the Nairobi Senator's presidential ambitions.

“I have already started talking to Gachagua so that he supports Sifuna’s bid for presidency,” Malala said.

He even warned his political colleagues not to misunderstand his decision to remain in DCP, saying he was there to help mobilise millions of votes for Sifuna.

“I am there fetching seven million votes for Sifuna so that he becomes president,” he said.

Then Malala turned his attention to Khalwale's party, United Patriotic Movement (UPM), and made a proposal that was bound to provoke a response.

He challenged Khalwale to surrender the party to Sifuna, arguing that there was little time for Sifuna to establish a new political vehicle ahead of 2027.

“In 50 days, Sifuna cannot register his party. If you love him, stop being party leader and give it to Sifuna so that he uses it for his presidential bid,” Malala said.

Khalwale did not wait long to answer. He questioned why Malala was speaking about support from former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua without making the same declaration in the Mt Kenya region.

“If the support from Gachagua is genuine, why don't you say it while in the Mt Kenya region?” Khalwale asked.

Then came the sharper political jab.

“I want you to know that we are not joking. The habit of jumping ship is what we don't want. That is how you moved from ANC to UDA and after killing UDA you have remained stranded,” Khalwale said.

By then, what had started as a conversation about unity had become something else, a public argument over political loyalty.

Sifuna eventually took the stage, and rather than allow Malala's remarks to pass, he answered them directly.

“So, in your mind, you simply sit there thinking Sifuna doesn't have a party? Even if you have underestimated us, we were schooled in this brand of politics by the professor of politics himself, the Honourable Raila Amollo Odinga,” Sifuna said.

He also told Malala to concentrate on his own political responsibilities instead of worrying about Linda Mwananchi.

“Honourable Malala, just calm down. I don't know why you are focusing so much on the Linda Mwananchi initiative when you are the Deputy Party Leader of the DCP. Just sort out your own DCP affairs; we shall meet further down the road,” Sifuna said.

The mood had already been complicated when Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala, an ally of President William Ruto, attempted to address the mourners.

He was forced to cut his speech short after sections of the crowd began chanting Sifuna's name, with Khalwale among those controlling the proceedings.

It was an extraordinary scene at a funeral, a place where politics is usually expected to take a back seat to mourning, but perhaps that was the point.

The events in Malinya exposed a reality that political declarations of unity have struggled to conceal: Mulembe politics is not only about defeating the political establishment in 2027. It is also about deciding who will speak for the community when the political moment arrives.

Sifuna has built a growing political identity around Linda Mwananchi and has increasingly been presented by some leaders as the region's strongest candidate for the presidency or deputy presidency.

Wamalwa, however, is not a newcomer to national politics. He has carried the Mulembe question before and remains a significant figure within the opposition.

Khalwale, meanwhile, has his own political base and influence, while Malala has positioned himself within DCP while openly campaigning for Sifuna.

Salasya represents another generation of political voices, one that appears less willing to wait for elders to settle the question before demanding a seat at the table.

That is where the real contest lies. The Mulembe community may agree that it needs a stronger political voice. Its leaders may agree that 2027 presents an opportunity to negotiate from a position of strength, but they have not yet agreed on who should sit at the head of the table. And that disagreement is becoming increasingly difficult to hide.

The danger is not necessarily that these leaders disagree. Political disagreement is normal. The danger is when personal ambitions begin to masquerade as community interests, when calls for unity become demands for loyalty, and when supporting one leader is interpreted as betraying another.

Malinya showed exactly how quickly the carefully constructed language of opposition unity can crack. One leader calls for dialogue, another says there will be no dialogue. One offers to mobilise votes; another questions his loyalty.

The Mulembe political house is therefore standing at an important crossroads. The question is no longer whether its leaders can stand on the same stage. They clearly can.

The bigger question is whether they can stand behind the same candidate when the music stops, the campaigns begin and the ballots are finally printed.

Because beneath all the talk of opposition unity, Malinya revealed the uncomfortable truth: the battle for Mulembe's political supremacy may have already begun long before the 2027 presidential race reaches the ballot box.