COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli has delivered one of his most hardhitting political assessments yet, throwing his weight firmly behind President William Ruto while warning would be challengers to reassess themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appearing on a local TV station, Atwoli said Kenya missed its \u201cSingapore moment\u201d due to fear and resistance to development, admitting he was once among those who opposed the affordable housing agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cWe are late. We would have gone to Singapore many years ago,\u201d Atwoli said.
\u201cI was one of those who opposed affordable housing, but when I went to Kisumu and Kakamega, I couldn\u2019t believe it. Affordable housing has changed the whole scenario.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
He argued that Kenya\u2019s progress requires bold leadership, openly praising President William Ruto.
\u201cThis country requires a brave leader,\u201d Atwoli said.<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cTo change this country, we need brave leaders like William Ruto who are not afraid to tell anti-development individuals off.\u201d
2027 politics: Rivals put on notice
On succession politics, the COTU boss dismissed suggestions that former President Uhuru Kenyatta could influence the 2027 outcome.
\u201cUhuru Kenyatta could not make Raila Odinga president. How can he make Fred Matiang\u2019i president?\u201d Atwoli posed.
\u201cEven if Uhuru were to run again in 2027, he would not beat William Ruto.\u201d
He warned Fred Matiang\u2019i to rethink his ambitions.
\u201cMatiang\u2019i is best suited to be an enforcer,\u201d Atwoli said bluntly, adding that those planning to challenge President Ruto \u201cmust reassess themselves.\u201d
Former Chief Justice David Maraga did not escape Atwoli\u2019s sharp tongue.
\u201cMaraga is an old man like me who lives in his own world,\u201d he said.
On Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Atwoli struck a cautious tone but raised doubts about his national appeal.
\u201cI am not demeaning Gachagua. He is an accomplished administrator,\u201d Atwoli said.
\u201cBut is he an accomplished politician? Saying he is a kingpin of Central Kenya\u2014can he be a president?\u201d
Raila, opposition and Kalonzo
Atwoli insisted that Raila Odinga remains the unrivalled face of opposition politics in Kenya.
\u201cAfter Raila Odinga, there is no opposition in Kenya. The rest are masqueraders,\u201d he said.
While praising Kalonzo Musyoka\u2019s character, Atwoli questioned his suitability as opposition leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cKalonzo is a good man, a diplomat, a man you can trust with anything,\u201d Atwoli said.
\u201cBut he is not best suited to lead the opposition in this country. If Kenyans want, he can be president.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
He further blamed former President Uhuru Kenyatta for Raila Odinga\u2019s loss in the 2022 General Election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFormer President Uhuru Kenyatta was responsible for Raila\u2019s loss in 2022,\u201d Atwoli stated.<\/strong><\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Backed by labour movement
Atwoli\u2019s remarks come at a time when his grip on the labour movement remains firm. The long-serving unionist was recently endorsed unanimously by all COTU affiliate secretaries-general to continue serving as COTU Secretary General, a position he has held since 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interview has sparked widespread debate, with Atwoli\u2019s forthright comments seen as both a ringing endorsement of President Ruto and a stern warning to political hopefuls eyeing 2027.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli has delivered one of his most hardhitting political assessments yet, throwing his weight firmly behind President William Ruto while warning would be challengers to reassess themselves. Appearing on a local TV station, Atwoli said Kenya missed its \u201cSingapore moment\u201d due to fear and resistance to development, admitting he was once …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18896,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18895\/revisions\/18896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}