Azimio is dead. Long live the Ukombozi Alliance

Kenya’s principal opposition coalition rebrands ahead of 2027 — but a new name alone will not settle the deeper questions about unity, leadership and whether the opposition can actually win

By James Mwangi

Kenya’s main opposition coalition, Azimio La Umoja One Kenya, yesterday formally rebranded as The Ukombozi Alliance, marking the most significant structural repositioning of the country’s opposition politics since the 2022 general election.

The announcement, made by coalition leadership, signals a deliberate effort to shed the baggage of a bruising electoral defeat and present a refreshed political identity ahead of the 2027 contest. The name itself — Ukombozi, meaning liberation — frames the coalition’s mission in explicitly emotive terms: freedom from what it describes as the burden of the Ruto administration and a rebuilding of government in service of ordinary Kenyans.

“The name changes, but the promise does not,” the coalition said in its formal statement. “We remain the home of every Kenyan who believes this country can be freed, rebuilt and made to work for the mwananchi again.”

The rebranding is symbolically bold. Whether it resolves the substantive challenges that have dogged the opposition — internal divisions, leadership succession questions and a credible alternative policy platform — remains the more consequential test.

A new name is the easy part.

Some of the moments as captured in pictures

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