Barely three months after registering the Injection of National Justice, Economic and Civic Transformation (INJECT) Party and unveiling an ambitious reform manifesto, activist-turned-politician Morara Kebaso has bolted from the arena.
In an X thread posted on June 23, the 33-year-old announced that he was “finally free,” declaring politics more headache than hope.
“I’ve finally left politics. Now I can… visit a bar without worrying about being photographed. I’m free,” he wrote, signing off as though escaping a bad contract.
Kebaso’s ascent began during the anti-Finance-Bill protests in mid-2024, when he criss-crossed Kenya livestreaming stalled public projects and grilling contractors on TikTok.
His “Project Audit Tours,” bankrolled by small online donations, struck a nerve with Gen Z voters and rattled State House enough to warrant a rebuttal from presidential spokesman Hussein Mohammed.
The activist’s brash style – equal parts investigative muckraker and social-media showman – turned him into a folk hero for an electorate tired of polite petitions.
By February this year he was drawing thousands to town-hall meetings and teasing a party that promised, in his words, to “inject justice into the arteries of the republic.
The halo slipped fast. In January the Kenya Revenue Authority accused Kebaso of owing KSh 27 million in unpaid VAT and income taxes, painting him as a serial nil-filer despite his public crusade for fiscal accountability.
His online fund-raising – a constant drumbeat of M-Pesa paybills – also raised eyebrows among supporters who wondered why a self-styled anti-graft crusader needed so many personal donations.
Then came March. After pledging allegiance to the opposition coalition, Kebaso was photographed in a cordial chat with then – Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. Social-media sleuths screamed “state project,” and the activist spent days rebutting claims he had sold out.
Kebaso also complained of being misquoted by journalists, hounded by trolls, and forced to hire security.
The young activist may be exiting politics, but it remains to be seen if politics will exit him.
