Former Roots Party running mate Justina Wamae has declared that she will run for President in the 2027 General Election and has launched a new party, the Imarisha Uchumi Party (IUP), to spearhead her campaign.
Wamae made the announcement on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at a hotel in Nairobi, where she unveiled the party under the slogan “Inatuhusu”, meaning “It concerns us”. “I, Justina Wamae, officially declare my bid for the presidency under the IUP,” she said.
Wamae said she formed her own party after her past political experience left her without a real voice. “I was a member of TNA in 2017 and a running mate in 2022, but in both instances I realised I was just a member, without any say,” she said.
The IUP received its full registration certificate on October 15, 2026, and says it will field candidates for all elective positions in 2027, with party nominations scheduled ahead of the polls.
Her main campaign pledge is to abolish the Affordable Housing Levy. Under her plan, contributors who wish to remain in the programme would continue making payments and purchase the houses through mortgages, while those who wish to withdraw would receive refunds with interest at a rate determined on the advice of the Central Bank of Kenya and the National Treasury.
“We will sell those affordable houses on mortgage to Kenyans who wish to continue paying and refund monies to those who have already contributed and want to stop,” she said.
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Wamae also said she supports livestreaming of election processes to boost transparency and public confidence in the results. “If you win, you should win cleanly; if you lose, you should lose cleanly,” she said.
Her remarks come days after the National Assembly passed a Bill removing the legal requirement for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to livestream results.
She said she is open to working with other leaders, but only on the basis of shared ideas and a common economic agenda rather than the pursuit of power. “Beyond sloganeering, the most important thing is ideas,” she said.
She also called for a simpler party registration process so that more political parties can be registered.
Wamae came to national prominence in the 2022 General Election as the running mate of Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah, whose ticket received 61,969 votes. In 2017, she sought The National Alliance (TNA) ticket for the Nairobi Woman Representative seat but did not win the nomination.
Before entering politics, she worked in marketing and supply chain management and started businesses in freight and logistics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Purchasing and Supplies Management from Daystar University and a Master of Business Administration in Strategic Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
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