Former Cabinet Secretary, Moses Kuria has now likened the 2027 General Election to that of 2002, saying it will be more about consensus building.

Kuria, who is President William Ruto’s Senior Economic Advisor, said that the 2027 elections will be a litmus test on unity and peace. 

Just like the late former President Mwai Kibaki was widely accepted by the political heavyweights in 2002, the former CS said that a similar situation is likely to emerge ahead of 2027.

“There are people who are doing practice for a football match that will not happen, there will be no such kind of contest. There will not be an election in 2027 for the president. In 2002, was there an election? … it was rubber stamped,” he said in an interview on Citizen TV.

“Kibaki had been pre-agreed, ‘have you ever seen that margin again’… because it was a moment. 2027 will be another moment like 2002, it is not going to be an election in the sense that we are thinking. There is going to be so much consensus in the country,” he said.

Kuria predicted a scenario where elders will sit down and agree on the best way forward for the country, which is the peaceful route.

“We have two options – destroy the nation or agree. Let there be honour among men and women because the alternative will be too dire to fathom. People will say, before we go to this direction there will be so much consensus around 2027 and the kind of elections that people are imagining, it will not be like 2022, 2017, 2013 there will be so much consensus,” he opined.

He also argued out that one of the factors that will drive consensus, is the fear that the country might be torn apart if people do not agree.

“I think Riggy G (former Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua) said it the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. The possibility of us jumping over the cliff if we do not manage 2027 is more dangerous than 2007 and all these others and that will be the impetus that will make people sit round the table to save this country,” he noted.

The former CS described himself as a peace builder and a nationalist, and vowed to support consensus building, saying that he has a national appeal and can hold a rally in any part of the country without the local MP because he is a ‘villager in every part of the country.’

“We have two schools of thoughts. One believes that things are so bad, we have been messed up, let us vandalise and destroy businesses in Nairobi, which are owned by people from the region I come from. Let it be nothing else except ‘one term’ and all those things and it is their right and have their leader called Gachagua,” he said.

The second school of thought, according to Kuria, is the one that believes they still have businesses to run, children to attend school and are stakeholders in the economy, in addition to holding that it is better to have a country than destroy it.

Last month, Gachagua was under fire over his remarks that allegedly evoked 2007 violence in 2027 and was accused of making reckless statements.

Gachagua, who spoke in an interview warned that mismanagement of the 2027 elections could result in violence worse than that experienced in 2007/08.

“With the mood in the country, if the IEBC tries to mess with the elections, there will be no country here. I want to tell you, 2007 will look like a Christmas party,” he said.

The former DP later said his statement was taken out of context, even as he was summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.