Former Minister of Nairobi Metropolitan Area in the Kibaki government, Jamleck Kamau, has joined the Democracy for Citizens Party led by former Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua.

In a statement from the DCP Party on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Kamau was welcomed to the party by Gachagua, who appears to be on a mission to ring-fence the Mount Kenya region ahead of the 2027 polls.

“Former Murang’a County Jubilee gubernatorial candidate Jamleck Kamau has officially joined the DCP Party. Welcome home, Jamleck,” the statement reads.

The switch comes just months after former KICC chairperson Irungu Nyakera, who is an ally of Kamau, switched sides to back Gachagua after a fallout with President William Ruto.

Mount Kenya politics

Nyakera and Gachagua met on Monday, April 14, 2025, days after President William Ruto fired the former from his plum job after skipping his Mt Kenya development tour.

“Because the mountain was shaken, it is now more united than ever before. Asante Rigathi Gachagua, EGH, for your words of wisdom and great counsel,” Nyakera stated.

Kamau, who was a former gubernatorial candidate in Murang’a County, came second with 84,707 votes after running against the current Governor Irungu Kang’ata, who garnered 246,849 votes with the UDA party ticket. Kamau ran on a Jubilee Party ticket.

During the election, Irungu Nyakera, who was also an aspirant, came a distant fourth after garnering 19,765 votes.

Growing DCP influence

His defection to DCP adds to the momentum that the newly formed party is gaining in the region.

In his public statements, Gachagua has urged members of Parliament in the Mount Kenya region to align themselves with the DCP Party or face rejection from the citizens.

Gachagua has branded MPs who still pledge their loyalty to President William Ruto’s UDA Party as traitors, urging that they should be punished at the ballot in the upcoming 2027 general elections.

Since his acrimonious ouster from office in 2024, Gachagua has positioned himself as a force to reckon with in the coalition of opposition parties, which plot to take over government from Ruto in 2027.

He has since joined forces with Jubilee Party’s preferred presidential candidate Fred Matiang’i, People’s Liberation Party’s (PLP) Martha Karua, Democratic Action Party (DAP-K) party leader Eugene Wamalwa and Wiper Party’s Kalonzo Musyoka.

In a move that was widely seen as an attempt to slow down Gachagua’s influence in the Eastern region, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki conducted an extensive tour of the region, dishing out development goodies and promises just days after Gachagua’s tour.