President William Ruto (left) and his ex-deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta face an uphill task to loosen the tight grip of Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua on the Mt Kenya region.
Loyalists of Mr Gachagua, who was impeached in October last year and has become Dr Ruto’s most aggressive political opponent, now say that the former Deputy President is winning the battle for the region’s political soul with the ultimate mission of turning Mt Kenya into a one-party stronghold.
But those allied to President Ruto and Mr Kenyatta told the Weekly Review that they are plotting an appropriate comeback in a region where President Ruto garnered 87 per cent of the vote in the triumphant 2022 elections.
“We must do something about this. We won’t agree to it, and it won’t happen. Many of us feel what Gachagua is doing is not right, and he must be stopped,” said former Nyeri Town MP Mr Ngunjiri Wambugu.
Mr Wambugu, who was once Mr Gachagua’s political gatekeeper before his impeachment, has since returned to Mr Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party, which has fronted former Interior Cabinet minister Fred Matiang’i to contest the top seat.
Mr Gachagua has, however, fiercely opposed having Mr Matiang’i as Jubilee’s presidential candidate in the opposition coalition as this would supposedly dampen DCP’s bargaining power and influence in Central Kenya.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua meets his supporters after unveiling his new political outfit, the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), in Lavington, Nairobi on May 15, 2025.
Mr Wambugu has expressed support for Mr Kenyatta in giving political direction to Mt Kenya and has publicly endorsed President Ruto’s bid for a second term.
Already, allies of both President Ruto and Mr Kenyatta have voiced their discontent with Mr Gachagua’s grip, vowing to dismantle it as soon as possible.
“We cannot accept this style of leadership where one man behaves like a Mt Kenya god to whom we must all submit. We cannot be herded like sheep and await our fate at Mr Gachagua’s discretion,” said The Service Party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri.
“We, in President Ruto’s corner, believe that flourishing multiparty democracy is one of the key pillars of Vision 2030, and we are not ready to submit to a one-man, one-party rule,” he added.
Information Technology Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo said the team was aware of Mr Gachagua’s “propaganda, falsehoods, and manipulation” and that the team was ready to hit back soon.
Speaking on Inooro TV on June 4, 2025, Mr Kabogo accused Mr Gachagua of using distraction as a tactic to divert Mt Kenya from the development agenda and into endless politicking.
Mr Kabogo said President Ruto’s hope lies in development, “which Mr Gachagua is actively urging Mt Kenya people to reject.”
However, Mr Gachagua dismissed the development agenda as “awkward tokenism and a direct insult to Mt Kenya.”
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Speaking to the Weekly Review on June 6, 2025, he said, “While loyalists in other regions are receiving real jobs, empowerment, and transformative projects, those in Mt Kenya are bringing our people a kilo of rice, beans, and a teaspoon of cooking oil.”
“The only language Mt Kenya understands is the actualisation of rewarding agribusiness, a good trading environment, payment of pending bills, and elimination of corruption and forcibly raised taxes,” he added.
The former Deputy President has previously urged his supporters not to reject handouts from the Ruto camp without shifting their loyalty. In recent weeks, his successor, Prof Kithure Kindiki, has intensified campaigns in the region to repair the damage caused by the Gachagua fallout.
Mr Kiunjuri alleged that Mr Gachagua has won over some churches in Mt Kenya, who he said now allow the Deputy President to use the pulpit to insult, incite, and threaten rivals while recruiting more followers .
“What is most irksome is that Mr Gachagua is going around Mt Kenya constituencies dismissing anyone not following him as a fool and campaigning against their re-election using propaganda and defamation,” Mr Kiunjuri said, pointing to a strategy by the former Deputy President to target President Ruto’s strongest supporters in Mt Kenya.
However, Mr Gachagua has remained defiant, promising to wipe out in the elections all those that refuse to toe his line. He has in recent weeks effectively declared, in the manner of a wartime leader, that “you are either with us or against us.”
“All those in Mt Kenya who will not contest under the DCP and will not submit to a single command centre led by the chosen Mt Kenya kingpin should forget winning,” he said, calling the current elected lot “fools” and promising to direct the region on an acceptable line-up of candidates. He claimed previously there was manipulation that resulted in weak leaders influenced by outsiders.
Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, a close ally of Mr Gachagua, said the game is on: “We will not listen even to Uhuru Kenyatta when it comes to commanding Mt Kenya in 2027. The only voice we will follow is that of Gachagua.”
Former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Indeed, Gachagua allies, while reserving most of their salvos towards President Ruto, have also started attacking Mr Kenyatta and questioning his commitment to removing the Kenya Kwanza administration in the 2027 election. The hostility is seen as a reaction to the entry of Dr Matiang’i and the decision to continue positioning the Jubilee Party as a key player in Mt Kenya.
As the political storm in the region rages, both President Ruto and Mr Kenyatta continue to lose key loyalists to Mr Gachagua, the latest being former Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau.
“I was a key ally of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022 when I contested the Murang’a gubernatorial seat on a Jubilee ticket. But I have now decided to align myself with Gachagua because any other move appears defeatist. Unfortunately, Mr Kenyatta should read the signs and avoid another humiliation in 2027,” said Mr Kamau.
He is joined by Jubilee’s Starehe MP Mr Amos Mwago.
“Gachagua is intimidatingly grounded, and for now, political wisdom dictates we follow him early enough,” he said.
Political analysts now warn that unless Mr Gachagua is countered with surgical precision, he will succeed in blocking President Ruto’s plan to split the Mt Kenya vote in the next election.
“Splitting a bloc vote is a legitimate form of political competition. To do that, you must bring down anyone uniting that bloc. That was the key objective of Mr Gachagua’s impeachment. All major political actors mobilised to bring him down. Unfortunately, he has refused to fall,” said analyst John Okumu, referring to the former Deputy President’s efforts to consolidate the region.
“Mr Gachagua is a deliberately crude politician who has mastered the art of using ethnic defence as political security,” Mr Okumu added.
In that strategy, Mr Gachagua has crafted the narrative that the Mt Kenya “enemies” are President Ruto and those, who helped impeach him or support a government that has been accused of over-taxation, abductions, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and persecution.
“President Ruto and his allies have only themselves to blame for arming Mr Gachagua with the ammunition he now uses to fire indiscriminately at the government,” Mr Okumu said.
Dr Charles Mwangi of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology lecturer said, “President Ruto will have to work extra hard to shed the label of Mt Kenya bogeyman, which is gaining traction under Mr Gachagua’s influence.”
Political scientist Gasper Odhiambo said Mr Gachagua appears to be poking the government in the eye to provoke it into weaponising security agencies against him.
“Mr Gachagua is walking around with his hands outstretched, hoping President Ruto will cuff him... He is daring the government to persecute him and even hinting at a strategy similar to how Kenneth Matiba was mentally broken by political persecution,” said Mr Odhiambo.
“A government crackdown on dissenters only serves to embolden the opposition and make it more animated,” he added.
Mr Odhiambo also cited another of Mr Gachagua’s tactics—promoting regional leaders with ambitions for Mt Kenya votes. This is also aimed at projecting a national image and dispel the perception that the former Deputy President is an ethnic kingpin only interested in fronting Mt Kenya.
“That is why politicians like Kalonzo Musyoka, DAP-Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa, and Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya all appear cosy with Mr Gachagua,” he said.
He warned that President Ruto, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and key regional leaders will have to work hard to counter the Gachagua wave.
“Losing that (Mt Kenya region) without a guaranteed replacement would be a political tragedy for his second-term bid,” he said.
Despite President Ruto turning to ODM leader Raila Odinga’s Nyanza and Western Kenya strongholds as alternatives, the battle for Mt Kenya will continue to shape the 2027 contest.
