Here are the ten most influential Kenyans to watch in the new year 2025

President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto during the New Year’s message to the Nation at the Kisii State Lodge, Kisii County. [PCS. Standard]

As the new year takes shape, the decisions and actions taken by ten of the most influential people in Kenya will determine how events in the country unfold and may have a bearing on the 2027 general elections.

These men and women in whose hands and lips the destiny of the country rests include President William Ruto, his deputy Kithure Kindiki, ODM leader Raila Odinga, Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka,  former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Others are Chief Justice Martha Koome, Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops chairperson Philip Anyolo and Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit.

Given that the electioneering period in the country starts a year before the election, Ruto only has this year to consolidate his legacy projects that he may use to rally Kenyans as he seeks to defend his reelection game plan.

Thika Super Highway stood as a testament to the late President Mwai Kibaki’s leadership while Uhuru built the Standard Gauge Railway, the Nairobi Expressway and the Kenol Marua Road. The two former Heads of State are remembered by the projects and they rallied the citizenry to re-elect them on their accounts.

Ruto has already announced plans to commence the construction of a dual carriageway along the Nairobi-Nakuru-Malaba road to avert the perennial severe traffic congestion experienced every holiday as Kenyans travel upcountry for the festive season.

 “We had a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programme with a French company but it didn’t materialise. However, we have another alternative. The commitment I want to give you is that next year, we will begin constructing the dual carriageway from Nairobi to Malaba. We are in discussions with various companies to ensure this project eases congestion and enhances transport capability,” Ruto said.

The President’s decisiveness on how he deals with abductions against his harsh critics will also dictate whether Kenyans will change their perception against him and his administration.

For Raila, his win or loss in the African Union Commission chairmanship bid next month will determine the course of the political trajectory in the country.

There seems to be a general consensus that the outcome of the AUC elections will either cement or break the sudden dalliance between the President and Raila.

Tough questions linger about Raila’s AU bid and how it will affect his political future.

According to analysts, the big question would be whether Raila will officially hand over his supporters to Ruto in the run-up to the 2027 elections if he wins the AU seat or whether he would nominate a successor to take on Ruto in his absence.

Political analysts believe Ruto’s rapprochement with Raila will be a game changer in Kenya’s politics but will be redefined in next month’s AUC polls.

“If Raila wins, Ruto may have the last laugh as Raila may transfer his voting blocs to him. But if he fails, it will be a different story altogether. Raila’a allies may blame the President for his loss and even create a narrative that he was a long con akin to what Raila’s allies blamed Uhuru for his loss of the presidency,” Jackson Oloo, a political pundit noted.

Deputy President Kindiki, who was picked to replace Gachagua, is also on Kenyans’ watch list.

While Prof Kindiki was expected to take Mt Kenya region back to Ruto’s fold, he has not shown any effort to woo the region that has been against the Kenya Kwanza administration since Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment.

Lately, Kindiki has not been present in public functions, even those attended by his boss, a move that has increased questions on his political plan and the working relationship between him and other political leaders.

The impeached Gachagua, who has been crisscrossing Mt Kenya region since his exit from office is another political figure to watch. The outcome of his impeachment lawsuit will influence Mt Kenya region politics and his recent quest  for political friends outside Mt Kenya region will shape the political direction of the country.

Gachagua has been pacifying his region against the Kenya Kwanza administration and has been presenting himself as the leader who will provide a political direction of the region, including joining hands with like minded leaders from other communities to form a listening government in 2027.

The troubled Chief Justice Martha Koome, who is under intense pressure  to resign over allegedly presiding over a corrupt Judiciary, is also a woman to watch this year.

Lawyers have openly criticized the Judiciary over corruption, incompetence, and delay of cases, and have mounted a spirited push for a fresh round of vetting of judges and magistrates.

Koome has fought back and rejected calls for her to resign. She claimed to have been a target of cyberbullying, which she referred to as technologically facilitated gender-based violence. She said this was part of a broader attempt to intimidate and discredit her.

“When I speak, I always confess that I am a victim of cyberbullying, or is it called technologically facilitated gender-based violence? But I know the intention. It is a business model. I don’t know what it is meant to achieve. Maybe to scare, distract, defame, or hound me out of office. But they can try something else,” Koome remarked.

LSK President Faith Odhiambo, who has now become the face of the Judiciary reforms enabled by her predecessor Nelson Havi and lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi is another influential figure to watch.

Already, Odhiambo has announced that the Society would set up a committee early next year to collect complaints against corrupt judicial officers, as part of an effort to root out graft in the Judiciary.

 “The most glaring form of judicial misconduct has to be corruption. Instead of justice and truth being weighed against evidence, it is traded and auctioned to the highest bidder in total disregard of the rule of law and constitutional and legal principles,” reads an LSK memorandum to Chief Justice Martha Koome.

Former LSK President Nelson Havi has been particularly vocal about the Judiciary’s integrity, claiming that corruption is deeply embedded in the system. According to Havi, lack of accountability is a primary reason for case delays and compromised justice.

“Judges and magistrates have prioritised personal wealth over justice. They issue biased rulings motivated by money rather than law,” ” Havi said.

ACK Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit and his KCCB chairperson counterpart Philip Anyolo are also leaders to watch.

The two represent a resurgent Church eager to reclaim its place in correcting the government. Already the clerics, together with other church leaders from mainstream churches, have been the thorn in the flesh of President Ruto’s administration and recently issued a hard hitting statement on the state of the nation.

In November, the Catholic bishops, in a strongly worded statement, accused Ruto of perpetuating a culture of lies and castigated the administration for  relying on brutal repression to silence critics, asserting that the administration thrives on half-truths and outright lies.

The Anglicans later supported the statement saying:

“We the ACK, fully support the Catholic bishops’ statement to the nation. We believe that the government is yet to turn around the country and steer it in the right direction. Calling church leaders names or dismissing the bishops’ statement as misleading, erroneous and false is itself dishonest. The bishops have spoken the minds of Kenyans and faithfully expressed the truth as things are on the ground,” Ole-Sapit said.