Featured Article. First Published here
By Lewis Ngunyi
For months, Kenya has been holding its breath, caught in the suspense of a national courtroom drama that spilled far beyond the bench.
Since the Emeritus Chief Justice announced his presidential, bid, the question on what party’s colours he would fly on his ascent to the house on the hill has come up multiple times. Now we have the answer—and it landed like a judicial thunderbolt. Maraga has chosen the United Green Movement (UGM) as his vessel for his campaign. Not Jubilee, not ODM, not some recycled tribal kiosk with a new coat of paint (thank God!).
UGM. Green. Fresh. Youthful. Audacious. A seismic shift in the political jungle.
This is not just another politician joining just another party. This is the former Chief Justice—the man who stared down the executive, annulled a presidential election, and reminded Kenyans that the law still has teeth—planting his flag on a green hill. The suspense is over. The game has begun. And if current world politics is telling us anything, the youth over the world have a love story to write with untainted former judiciary heads.
Maraga could have picked any of the bloated dinosaurs grazing lazily in Kenya’s political savannah. He could have stitched together a tribal outfit like the rest of them, peddling promises by the kilo and corruption by the tonne. Instead, he has chosen the United Green Movement—a party whose ethos is rooted in integrity, environmental consciousness, and youth activism. For a man who built his legacy on fidelity to the Constitution and refusal to bow to power, the fit is almost poetic.
UGM is not yet a behemoth. It is a sapling. But every great forest begins as a seed. And Maraga, in his deliberate way, has chosen to water that seed rather than fatten himself on the rotting pastures of yesterday’s politics. In doing so, he has aligned his personal brand of incorruptibility with a movement that speaks the language of Kenya’s restless majority: the youth.
And before it starts to get distorted by the underwhelming uptake of voter registration, the youth are the political tsunami of 2027. Gen Z has already shown their teeth, flooding streets, rattling the establishment, and forcing presidents to irresponsible expenditure. Millennials, too, have grown weary of empty slogans from old men with old tricks. This demographic is not just voting age—it is Kenya’s beating heart.
As for the low voter registration turnout, just wait until the word “deadline” starts to get floated around. This is a generation that submits assignments at 11:59pm, and types out research papers in one caffeine-heavy night. They’ll be fine. 15 million strong. I just hope the IEBC is well resourced for the final 30 days of this exercise. Back to Maraga…
UGM speaks their dialect. Climate change. Digital economy. Jobs, not handshakes. Justice, not bribes. Maraga may be a septuagenarian, but his record gives him credibility across generations. When he nullified the 2017 presidential election, he stood for principle over power, and the youth remember that. They may not worship him, but they respect him. And in politics, respect is oxygen.
Imagine this alignment: a principled elder statesman with unimpeachable integrity leading a youth-driven party that wants to reinvent politics. That’s a wave. And waves don’t ask permission to crash.
While Maraga plants green seeds, the establishment grazes endlessly on corruption’s lush pastures. Jubilee is a ghost of itself, haunted by scandals. ODM still lives in 2007, trying to resell expired hope. Kenya Kwanza struts on borrowed time, its campaign machinery creaking under the weight of broken promises.
And here comes Maraga, with no baggage, no whiff of tenderpreneurship, no billionaire benefactor dangling strings. He brings a clean slate into a dirty arena. For the old bulls, this is a nightmare. They cannot smear him with the usual mud. He is not a thief. He is not a tribal demagogue. He is not desperate for survival. Instead, he represents an existential threat: the possibility that Kenyans might finally choose principle over patronage.
Of course, idealism alone does not win State House. UGM lacks the grassroots machinery, the deep pockets, and the nationwide tentacles that Kenya’s traditional parties wield like cudgels. Maraga will need allies—regional point men, civic movements, maybe even disenchanted insiders tired of the old circus. He will need to convince the hustler in Mathare and the farmer in Kericho that a green vote is not just symbolic, but transformative. And while the green wave is not necessarily inevitable, it is a very possible reality. And in politics, possibility is power.
Maraga’s decision reshuffles the deck. The 2027 race was shaping up as a tired duel of old names, of recycled slogans, and uninspired manifestos. Now, there is a third force with symbolic heft and moral gravity. UGM, under Maraga, could become the rallying point for every Kenyan who feels suffocated by the endless recycling of crooks.
Politics, at its best, is not about men but about moments. Maraga’s moment has arrived. His entry through UGM is a green dawn breaking over a weary nation. A dawn that says politics does not have to be about stomachs alone—it can be about justice, it can be about innovation, and the stubborn belief that Kenya deserves better.
To the general reader: this is a chance to reimagine the republic. To the political aspirant: beware, the wave is forming, and it does not care about your comfort. To the youth: this is your party. Not a promise. A platform. A chance to etch your values into the granite of governance.
The jungle is noisy, the old bulls are restless, but a new roar has entered the fray. The judicial lion has chosen his terrain. And if the roar of the lion syncs with the chant of the youth, then Kenya’s stale political script may finally be rewritten in green ink.