Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta marked his 64th birthday on October 26, 2025, with a quiet family gathering at his Ichuga Farm in Gatundu, drawing a torrent of mixed tributes across social media that swung from heartfelt nods to his unifying legacy to sharp jabs at fiscal missteps.
The occasion, steeped in the golden hues of autumnal Kiambu hills, unfolded sans the pomp of State House galas, yet social media lit up like a Nairobi skyline at dusk – politicos like Martha Karua and everyday Kenyans alike firing off messages that dissected his 2013-2022 tenure with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel.
His office’s dawn statement hailed the “visionary architect of progress”, spotlighting the Big Four agenda’s blueprint for manufacturing and universal health, but online chatter revealed a nation still wrestling with his imprint: hero to some, harbinger of debt to others.
The tributes kicked off early, with Karua – the iron-willed Narc-Kenya leader and Uhuru’s 2022 running mate – leading the charge via a poetic X thread: “Happy 64th, Mzee. Your handshake mended fractures; may your wisdom stitch more.”
Her words, laced with that signature blend of fire and finesse, racked up 15,000 likes by noon, evoking the 2018 pact with Raila Odinga that quelled election-year bloodletting and birthed the Building Bridges Initiative.
Raila himself, from his Addis Ababa AU hustings, chimed in with a simple emoji-laden post: a cake slice beside clasped hands, a subtle salute to their bromance that steered Kenya from brinkmanship to ballot-box peace.
Media heavyweights piled on; Citizen TV’s digital desk curated a montage of Uhuru’s glory days – SGR ribbon-cuttings snaking through Tsavo, the motorway’s hum from JKIA to the city core – captioned “From Jubilee to Jubilee: 64 Years of Service”.
However, the influx of digital content wasn’t limited to confetti. As midday sun baked the Rift Valley, a countercurrent surged from fiscal watchdogs and youth firebrands, zeroing in on the elephantine debt ballooned to 71% of GDP under Uhuru’s watch – $80 billion-plus, per Treasury tallies – with Chinese loans fuelling ghost projects and graft scandals like the NYS heist still festering in court dockets.
“Happy birthday, but who pays the piper?” tweeted economist Aly-Khan Satchu, sparking threads dissecting the 2017 Eurobond “vanish” that left auditors scratching heads.
Gen Z voices, fresh from anti-tax uprising scars, amplified the critique: One viral meme juxtaposed Uhuru’s youthful jog with a sinking ship labelled “Kenyatta Economics”, quipping, “64 looks good—our future? It does not look good.
For Uhuru, the mixed chorus feels like familiar terrain. Post-presidency, he’s morphed into an elder statesman, jetting to Davos for climate chats and brokering peace in Ethiopia’s Tigray thicket, all while nursing a low-profile life amid whispers of a 2027 kingmaker role.
His family’s statement, penned with that polished Jubilee gloss, shows resilience: “At 64, His Excellency remains a beacon of steady hands in stormy seas.” Close allies like Kimani Ichung’wah, now a parliamentary firebrand, hosted a virtual toast, reminiscing over the hustler fund’s seed for 16 million wallets.
But in Mombasa’s salt-laced cafes and Eldoret’s maize fields, the verdict splits: infrastructure icons like the Thika Superhighway eased commutes for millions, yet the debt yoke chokes today’s budgets, with interest gobbling 30% of revenues.
As evening shadows lengthen over the Aberdares, Uhuru’s 64th closes not with fanfare but reflection – a microcosm of Kenya’s own crossroads. Tributes, bitter or buoyant, show a legacy etched in concrete and controversy: the man who built bridges, literal and figurative, but left a ledger in the red.