Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ruled out any possibility of joining President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), insisting that his political future remains tied to Jubilee and sharply questioning the credibility of the President’s newly unveiled Vision 2060 agenda.
Speaking in a televised interview on Monday, August 10, 2026, Matiang’i said he has no personal animosity toward leaders across the political divide and has deliberately avoided the confrontational style that has come to characterize sections of Kenya’s politics.
“I don’t spend time on insults and those types of things,” he said, adding that even politicians from his Kisii backyard who hold opposing views have never drawn him into public shouting matches.
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Matiang’i, who has increasingly been mentioned in opposition circles as a possible presidential contender in 2027, said his approach is rooted in what he called a technocratic background focused on substance rather than political theatrics.
Loyalty to Jubilee party
The former CS was categorical that he would not join UDA.
“I am not in UDA. I will never join UDA. So how would we work together?” he posed, adding that he remains a member of Jubilee and would rather retire from politics than abandon the party for another political vehicle.
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“If I leave Jubilee and quit Jubilee completely, I am also retiring from politics,” he said.
His remarks come days after President Ruto said he was pursuing a long-term national development agenda through Vision 2060 and was open to engaging leaders across political divides for the benefit of the Republic.
Matiang’i, however, said Jubilee had not been consulted on the initiative and dismissed the proposal as lacking credibility.
“The credibility of the dream is the dreamer,” he said, before launching one of his strongest public attacks on the President.
“This president has lost legitimacy completely. He has lost respect in the country because of the number of lies he has said and the kind of things he has done,” Matiang’i argued.
He cited the post-Gen Z protest dialogue process, the NADCO talks and the later agreement signed between Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga at KICC as examples of initiatives that, in his view, failed to produce tangible outcomes.
“What has happened? Nothing,” he said repeatedly, describing the initiatives as part of a recurring cycle of political distraction.
Matiang’i contrasted speeches and announcements with what he called measurable delivery, saying successful development models such as Singapore were built through visible action rather than rhetoric.
In one of the interview’s most striking moments, he accused the President of leaving behind unfinished projects across the country.
“The president has filled this country with foundation stones,” he said. “Everywhere you go, there are foundation stones… they are like landmines.”
The comments are likely to deepen tensions between Jubilee and the Kenya Kwanza administration and further position Matiang’i as a prominent critic of the government ahead of the 2027 political realignments.
