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COMMENTARY|

By Martin Masai

Wiper Party’s latest rebranding push—spearheaded by its leader Kalonzo Musyoka—may be positioned as a strategic recalibration ahead of 2027, but behind the glossy proposals lies a storm of unresolved internal crises that expose the party’s fragility and raise fresh doubts about Kalonzo’s capacity to lead a coherent national government.

In a letter to Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu, Kalonzo has formally initiated the process to rename and re-symbolize Wiper. The rebrand is being marketed as a move to align the party with Kenya’s “rich diversity and dynamic political landscape,” according to Secretary General Shakila Abdalla.

Insiders say three names were proposed—but it is the chosen name, Wiper Patriotic Front, that signals Kalonzo’s discomfort with radical posturing, having reportedly rejected Wiper Liberation Front for sounding too militant.

Yet, even as the party seeks a new face, its internal rot festers. The pungent smell of corruption and conflict of interest is wafting unmistakably all over Wiper. It is the reason the party can not call out Wavinya and bring to an end the stupidity in Machakos.

Nowhere is Wiper’s dysfunction more apparent than in the county assemblies of Machakos and Kitui—its political backyards. Both are currently in legislative paralysis, their operations frozen by court orders or outright chaos.

In Machakos, the County Assembly has remained closed since April 2025, following an ugly confrontation where MCAs loyal to Governor Wavinya Ndeti physically fought with opponents during a House Business Committee meeting.

Speaker Anne Kiusya shuttered the assembly after narrowly escaping a physical assault. That Kalonzo’s party could not mediate or impose order in its own stronghold is telling. To many observers, the writing is on the wall about Wiper’s  capability to govern.

To his credit, Kalonzo has heard all parties in the fight -Wavinya and her deputy, her supportive cast of MCAs, Speaker Kiusya, and about five Wiper MCAs.  Kalonzo has also met the five MCAs,together with Wavinya, where candid conversations took place. It is said the party boss unmasked himself by attempting to pursuade them to join the Governor’s battalion. Notwithstanding, they firmly stood their ground in the meeting, telling Wavinya to subject herself and her appointees to full oversight by the assembly. Why Kalonzo has never made a decision is the crux of the matter.

The five, together with a large number of Maendeleo Chap Chap MCAs, have prevented Kiusya’s ouster by denying the Wavinya side the crucial threshold of 45 members needed to impeach the Speaker.

Wiper’s National Executive Committee met soon after—but in a revealing move, the assembly crisis was completely scrubbed from the agenda.

It had to take the ebullient Mavoko MP Makau Kingola to raise the issue as Any Other Business( AOB). Kalonzo swiftly shot it down, saying the matter was before court.

Both Wavinya and Majority Leader Nicholas Nzioka, the lead actors in the self preserving conflict, were silenced—accused of being “deeply conflicted.” It was Kathiani MP Robert Mbui who got the chance to explain that the party would like to give a chance to the judiciary to deal with the matter.

It was a telling moment: rather than confront the purely political crisis, Kalonzo closed his eyes and chose to bury it under the carpet, leaving many at the meeting to wonder why the ex Vice President could not rise above the fray to show leadership.

The situation in Kitui is no better. A court order has frozen all legislative activity in the county assembly because the house was restrained from reconstituting assembly committees, again under Wiper’s watch. As it stands, the county’s Appropriations Bill will not be discussed because there is no committee to scrutinise before it comes to the floor of the assembly.

The party’s two flagship counties now lie in institutional limbo—governed by executive fiat or legal restraining orders. If this is a preview of Wiper’s administrative style, Kenyans have every reason to worry.

What emerges is a pattern: Kalonzo’s preference for cosmetic over structural reform,  a penchant for public relations over political surgery.

He is rebranding a vehicle whose engine is sputtering, hoping new paint will distract from the smell of smoke under the hood.

The rebranding may dominate headlines, but the real story is Wiper’s inability to govern itself through only two counties.

For a man positioning himself as a presidential frontrunner, Kalonzo must confront a sobering question: if he can not manage two counties run by his loyalists, how can he claim readiness to lead a country of 47?

Until then, Wiper remains a party adrift—mired in internal feuds, possibly corruption,running from conflict, and clinging to the illusion of control.

Stay Anchored.

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