The Democratic Party of Kenya: Muturi's Revival of Kibaki's Old Party

The Democratic Party (DP) is the party Mwai Kibaki founded in December 1991, when Kenya returned to multi-party politics. Its leader in 2026 is Justin Muturi (Siakago), the former Speaker and Attorney General, whom the party's National Executive Committee reinstated in June 2025 after he fell out with President William Ruto. DP left Ruto's Kenya Kwanza coalition in March 2025 and now sits with the opposition, where Muturi is one of the principals and a leading voice on electoral reform.

Kibaki's party

Kibaki left KANU and founded DP at the end of 1991, after the Constitution was amended to allow opposition parties. He ran on DP in 1992 and finished third, and again in 1997, when he came second to Daniel arap Moi. In 2002 DP went into the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which won 125 of the 210 elected seats in Parliament; DP's own share was 36, according to Mzalendo's record. Kibaki won the presidency that year with 62.2 per cent.

Five years later DP became part of the Party of National Unity (PNU), the vehicle Kibaki built for his 2007 re-election, and it faded as a force of its own. Kenya has a long list of parties that did well once and then emptied, set out in why Kenyan political parties die.

Muturi's route to the leadership

Muturi was a magistrate before politics. He entered Parliament for Siakago in a 1999 by-election, was re-elected in 2002 and lost the seat in 2007. On 28 March 2013 the National Assembly elected him Speaker, defeating Kenneth Marende by 219 votes to 129, and he held the post until 2022.

Ahead of the 2022 election DP named him its presidential candidate. He then took the party into a coalition agreement with Ruto in April 2022, which a section of DP's own officials challenged; the High Court ruled their complaint had been filed too late, Citizen Digital reported. After Ruto won, Muturi resigned as DP leader in October 2022 to become Attorney General.

The fallout with Ruto

The relationship broke over abductions. Muturi said State agents had abducted his son, and became an open critic of enforced disappearances while still in government. He was moved from Attorney General to the Public Service ministry, and in March 2025 Ruto dismissed him, calling him incompetent, and replaced him with Geoffrey Ruku (Mbeere North). Muturi said he had asked to be excused from Cabinet until the killings and disappearances were addressed.

DP moved first. In a letter dated 7 March 2025, signed by secretary-general Jacob Haji and chairman Esau Kioni, the party gave 30 days' notice that it was leaving Kenya Kwanza, saying its continued stay "is no longer tenable". The Registrar received it on 12 March, and Citizen Digital reported it was the first party to leave the coalition since 2022. The difference between that coalition and the later arrangement with ODM is explained in Kenya Kwanza and the broad-based government.

The revival

On 10 June 2025 DP's executive committee unanimously reinstated Muturi as party leader, subject to ratification by a National Delegates Convention. "This is not just a personal honour, but a call to action as we rebuild, re-energise, and reposition the Democratic Party for the future," he said, The Star reported.

What rebuilding looks like in 2026 is mostly Muturi himself on the road. DP held a "Meet the People" tour in Othaya, in Nyeri, on 6 September 2026, People Daily reported. On 4 August, with Peter Munya of PNU and Lenny Kivuti, he rejected Rigathi Gachagua's call for smaller Mt Kenya parties to fold into the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP). Keeping DP alive as a separate registered party is the point of that refusal: a party with its own certificate can sign a coalition agreement and bargain for a share of it.

Muturi in the opposition

Muturi sits among the opposition principals, the group described in Kenya's opposition has eight principals and one ticket. His issue is electoral reform. On 15 September 2026 he stood with David Maraga's People's Coalition on Electoral Reforms at the Sarova Panafric when it set five demands for the IEBC, covered in Maraga's five demands. He said then that if the reforms were not made, Kenyans would pursue "every lawful constitutional, statutory and international avenue available", and has also said street protests cannot settle electoral questions.

The tour has not been comfortable. Muturi was with the opposition leaders whose convoy was stoned on entering Garissa in September. Taifa Leo reported on 14 September that he had joined Kalonzo Musyoka and Eugene Wamalwa in warning that political violence threatened the 2027 election. The Garissa incident is covered in the opposition convoy stoned in Garissa.

What DP brings to a coalition

DP's assets are its name, its history and its registration. Muturi comes from Embu County in Mt Kenya East, where the contest between Deputy President Kithure Kindiki's allies and Gachagua's is sharpest. What DP lacks is money: it was not among the parties Kenyans.co.ke listed as receiving more than Sh20 million from the 2026/27 Political Parties Fund. Its bargaining power rests on Muturi's standing with the other principals.

The practical tests come on the IEBC calendar. DP, like every party, has until 15 October 2026 to submit its authorised officials and specimen signatures, and needs its nomination rules certified by the Registrar by 30 October if it wants to field candidates. The larger question is whether Muturi seeks the opposition ticket himself or trades DP's support for a place in the coalition's line-up.