Former President Uhuru Kenyatta used a church gathering in Kirinyaga County on Saturday to renew his message that electing President William Ruto in 2022 was a mistake, urging residents not to repeat it in the 2027 General Election.

Kenyatta referenced his past political alliance with the late Raila Odinga and Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua, suggesting their continued unity would have served the country well. "I knew that if the Old Man, late Raila Odinga, and your daughter, Martha Karua, united, Kenya would have made great progress," he said. He went on to press the crowd directly, without explicitly naming Ruto, on whether they would repeat what he characterised as an earlier error. "A mistake is not a mistake unless it is repeated. Kirinyaga residents, will you make the same mistake? Kirinyaga residents, will you repeat the mistake? Let me see by a show of hands, so that they don't accuse me of saying this," he said, before adding in Kiswahili: "Sasa sijui ni makosa gani mlifanya, lakini kama nyinyi wenyewe mnajua, sasa si ni shauri yenu, ama nimesema aje?" ("Now I don't know what mistake you made, but if you yourselves know, then isn't it up to you, or have I said something wrong?")

Saturday's remarks are the latest in a series of near-identical statements Kenyatta has made in recent weeks as he has toured Mt Kenya counties. He made a similar appeal days earlier, telling a gathering: "Making a mistake is okay, but repeating the same mistake is bad. Will you really make the same mistake twice?" At that event, he also pushed back on recent criticism from Ruto, who has referred to him as a "sponsor," a "rebel leader" and, more recently, suggested in public remarks that unnamed political figures were speaking while intoxicated — a comment widely understood as directed at Kenyatta, though Ruto did not name him. "He is calling me sponsor, rebel leader and drunkard, but I don't care," Kenyatta said, telling Ruto to focus instead on delivering services to Kenyans and to "wait for the 2027 General Election" for voters to decide.