Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has scoffed at the forays of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki into the Mount Kenya region.

Speaking during a roadside rally in Matuu on Friday, May 30, 2025, Linturi, who was fired by Ruto from the cabinet at the height of the Gen Z protests, urged Kindiki to slow down on his visits to Mount Kenya.

“Since we got united against the president, Ruto has not had sleep. His deputy visits Meru at least ten times a week in a span of one week,” Linturi said.

“We want to remind Kindiki that the Meru people have moved on and so have the people of Mount Kenya,” he stated.

One presidential candidate

Linturi revealed that the plan to make Ruto a one-term president was on course, indicating that the opposition leaders will have to coalesce around a single candidate to face the president in 2027.

“To ensure that we defeat Ruto in 2027, we want to assure you that we shall come up with a single presidential candidate,” Linturi, who is an official of the Democracy for Citizens Party, said.

“We have managed to gather the Mount Kenya vote, that of Meru, Western and the Ukambani vote. This gives us roughly 8 million votes to start with. This deal is done,” Linturi told the chanting crowd in Matuu.

The decision by the former cabinet secretary, Peter Munya, to join the opposition politicians complicated Kindiki’s chances of commanding meaningful influence of the Meru vote.

With Munya, Linturi, former cabinet secretary Justin Muturi, former Igembe North MP Maoka Maore and former Tigania West MP David Kariithi by Gachagua’s side, Kindiki is faced with a momentous task of proving his influence in the region.

Political alignments

The opposition politicians include presidential hopefuls from the Wiper Party, Jubilee Party, DCP, People’s Liberation Party (PLP), Democratic Action Party- Kenya and Muturi’s Democratic Party.

The leaders have vowed to remain united even after settling on a single presidential candidate to battle it out with Ruto in 2027.

While a significant number of Mount Kenya elected leaders still vow allegiance to Ruto, it remains to be seen how the next two electioneering years will experience political shifts.

At the moment, Ruto is exploring new territories which predominantly voted for the opposition. With his working arrangement with Raila Odinga, whose allies, including the Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho, CS John Mbadi and CS Opiyo Wandayi, promising to support his second term, the head of state seems to have secured the former opposition strongholds.