Ex-IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe tears into the "Linda Mwananchi" movement, dismissing Senator Sifuna’s teargas-filled rally as a stage-managed spectacle designed to dupe the masses.

In a blistering critique that has set the Kenyan political sphere alight, former IEBC Commissioner Roselyn Akombe has cautioned Kenyans against what she terms "manufactured messiahs." Her comments come barely 24 hours after Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna was teargassed during a chaotic "Linda Mwananchi" rally in Kitengela, an event Akombe suggests was more theatre than revolution.

Writing from her base abroad, Akombe argued that the current wave of "resistance" led by the embattled ODM Secretary General is likely a prelude to a handshake—a familiar script in Kenyan politics where opposition firebrands eventually dine with the very government they critique. "Stop being gullible," she warned, asserting that the disruption was stage-managed to elevate Sifuna’s profile for the 2027 electoral cycle.

The "Gen Z" Defense

The Senator’s camp has hit back swiftly. Suba South MP Caroli Omondi dismissed the claims of staging, asserting that the Kitengela rally was organically organized by Gen Z activists, with politicians merely invited as guests. "Sifuna became the symbol of it," Omondi stated, trying to distance the event from the traditional ODM machinery.

However, Akombe’s cynicism resonates with a weary electorate. She invoked the phrase "Punde si punde" (sooner or later), predicting that today’s teargas victims will be tomorrow’s cabinet secretaries. Her intervention raises uncomfortable questions about the authenticity of Kenya’s opposition politics.

• The Accusation: The rally was a "stage-managed" event to create a hero narrative.
• The Defense: Organizers claim it was a Gen Z-led initiative.
• The Context: Sifuna's recent "ouster" from ODM leadership roles adds fuel to the fire.

As the teargas settles in Kitengela, the real battle is for the narrative. Is Sifuna the new face of liberation, or, as Akombe suggests, just another actor in a well-rehearsed state drama? For the mwananchi, distinguishing between the two has never been harder.

"The house always wins," Akombe concluded, "unless we turn the tables on them."