Mount Kenya supremacy politics on Friday, August 30, 2024, took centre stage during the Thanksgiving ceremony of Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi in Siaya County.

Leader of the majority Kimani Ichung’wah stoked the fire after making remarks that anyone who attempts to trap Raila Odinga would eventually trap themselves.

“Mtu akifikiria atawekea baba mitego atajitega mwenyewe(Anyone who thinks they can lay traps for Raila Odinga will only trap himself),” Ichung’wah said.

Ichung’wah went ahead to note that the Mt Kenya region should express more gratitude for the more than 7 cabinet secretaries and the deputy president.

“One thing I’ve learnt from this region; is they have been given only two CSs but they are very grateful. We have more than seven CSs and the deputy president; we should appreciate this and not sabotage and blackmail the president,” Ichung’wah remarked.

Gachagua who was in attendance watched as Ichung’wah regurgitated his remarks which had perhaps caught up with him.

Ichung’wah-Gachagua tension

In June, IIchung’wah accused Gachagua of sabotaging the president. He stated that the second in command was plotting to make Ruto a one-term president by undermining his leadership.

“Stop telling people at night that William Ruto is a one-term president and you will marshal your community to undermine and sabotage the government of President William Ruto so that he fails and you become president,” Ichung’wah said during a fundraiser at high school in Kikuyu constituency.

At the time, Gachagua was engaged in a popularity tour of the vote-rich Mount Kenya region to assert his position as the region’s sole kingpin.

While he defended his tours saying all politics is local, his detractors from the region accused him of ethnicity and sowing division in the country.

Interior cabinet secretary Kithure Kindiki, who was a viable choice during Ruto’s search for a deputy from the region, also waded into the conversation, stating that such politics of the DP could easily result in ethnic animosity witnessed during the post-poll chaos of 2007.

“Kenya’s ugly past experience with ethnically brewed violence should jolt all of us, whatever tongue we speak and whichever part of the Country we come from, to resist and to name and shame the propagators of ethnic hate and the “us” versus “them” narrative that nearly destroyed Kenya in December and January of 2007-2008,” Kindiki posted on his X handle.

However, Gachagua got the support of leaders allied to him who castigated Ichung’wah, accusing him of sowing discord in the mountain.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga and Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba came to his defence stating that he remains the senior-most leader of the Mt Kenya region.

The intrigues came at a time when Ruto hinted at a possible lineup which could rope in ODM to form a government in 2027.