Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has told President William Ruto to stop trading insults and start answering questions about the cost of living, healthcare and public spending, as the Linda Mwananchi leader uses the President's "empty" jibes to sharpen his own pitch ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Speaking on Friday, October 16, at the funeral of former VIP Protection Unit commander Lazarus Opicho in Sirende, Kiminini Constituency, Trans Nzoia County, Sifuna said the opposition would not be distracted by name-calling. "Stop directing your anger at us, stop calling us names. What we want as the opposition is for you to answer the questions and issues we are raising, including the high cost of living and mismanagement of public funds by your government," he said, according to the Nation.

Citizen Digital reported him adding that "even if you insult me or call me names, we will still ask the questions that need to be asked."

From "empty" to a counter-offer

The exchange is the latest round in a week-long war of words. On October 14, while touring West Pokot, Ruto mocked Sifuna's The Equitable Party (TEP) as "The Empty Party" and took personal swipes at the senator. The party has since begun the formal process of renaming itself the Linda Mwananchi Movement.

Rather than reply in kind, Sifuna has been answering with a list of promises. In Sirende he went after the government's flagship Affordable Housing Programme, asking which slums had closed since the project began and arguing that Kibera and other informal settlements remain. He said a Linda Mwananchi administration would redirect affordable housing towards police officers, a pointed message at the funeral of a senior officer, and would carry out police reforms.

"When I am sworn in as the sixth president, I will take over these houses built by Ruto," Citizen Digital quoted him as saying, after one of Opicho's younger colleagues recalled starting his career in a single-room house.

Sifuna also accused the State of using the security apparatus against the opposition, pointing to the withdrawal of security from opposition figures, and blamed the government for the disruptions at Raila Odinga's first anniversary memorial in Bondo on October 15. The Nation quoted him calling it "State-sponsored chaos." The government has not responded to that claim.

Bible challenge on healthcare

Also on Friday, Sifuna dared the President to swear on the Bible that families no longer have to hold harambees to pay hospital bills, People Daily reported. "William Samoei Ruto, chukua Bibilia leo, uaape mbele ya Wakenya kwamba harambee za kupeleka watu hospitali zimeisha," he said, challenging Ruto to take the Bible and declare before Kenyans that such fundraisers have ended.

Two days earlier he had questioned the statutory deductions on his own payslip, contrasting the housing levy with his Social Health Authority (SHA) contribution, and pledged that an opposition government would scrap the housing levy.

Tension at the funeral

The Sirende service itself was tense. Citizen Digital reported that Linda Mwananchi leaders were eventually stopped from addressing mourners after some speakers attacked the President, with police taking over the programme. Deputy Inspector General Gilbert Masengeli told mourners that free expression was a right "but do not bring that here, at Opicho's funeral."

Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, who has openly backed Sifuna's presidential ambitions, dismissed claims that he sponsors gangs in the county and said his security had been withdrawn after the President's tour of Trans Nzoia, which he termed political punishment.

Ruto keeps up the jabs

The President has shown no sign of easing off. On Saturday, October 17, while inspecting the 729-unit Nandi Hills Affordable Housing Project, Ruto told construction workers "Msisahau kuweka lift ndiyo tupandishe kuku" (don't forget to install a lift so we can take the chickens up), The Star reported. It was a dig at Sifuna's earlier argument that high-rise housing does not suit families in western Kenya who keep poultry. Ruto insisted house construction would continue "for the next 30 years."

For Sifuna, whose movement endorsed him as its presidential candidate in September, the back-and-forth gives him a national platform. It also lets him present the Linda Mwananchi Movement as the voice of taxpayers squeezed by levies, while the opposition is still deciding who will lead its joint ticket.

Photos: Edwin Sifuna arriving at Migwena Grounds, Bondo (Nation); President William Ruto addressing a church service in Kapsabet (PCS via The Kenya Times).