Moses Kuria: Presidential race perceptions behind Mt Kenya’s low voter registration
By Martin Oduor, April 22, 2026Moses Kuria, the outspoken political strategist and former Cabinet Secretary, has suggested that a profound sense of political displacement is fueling a voter registration slump in Kenya’s most populous and influential region.
Appearing on a high-stakes interview on a local TV on Wednesday night, April 22, 2026, Kuria argued that the Mt. Kenya region, long the heartbeat of Kenyan electoral politics, is currently underperforming because residents feel they have been relegated to the sidelines of the 2027 presidential contest.
“Why is Mt. Kenya underperforming in this voter registration race? It is because they have no horse in the race,” Kuria claimed, leaning into the camera.
“When we have a horse in the race, people tend to be more motivated.”
For decades, the central highlands have produced the majority of Kenya’s presidents, creating a culture where high voter turnout was synonymous with ethnic representation at the highest level of government.
However, with the current political landscape fragmented, Kuria suggests that the motivation gap is a direct result of the region lacking a clear, viable frontrunner to succeed or challenge the status quo.
The remarks touch on a sensitive nerve in Kenyan politics: the reliance on ethnic mobilisation to drive democratic participation. Without a local candidate to galvanise the base, the mountain, as it is colloquially known, appears to be in a state of political hibernation.
The Gachagua factor
The conversation turned sharply toward the fate of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Gachagua, who was impeached by Parliament and has since been entangled in a web of legal battles aimed at barring him from future office, remains a polarising figure in the region’s quest for a leader.
When asked by the interviewer how the dynamics would shift if the judiciary were to intervene, the exchange grew pointed.
“What if Rigathi Gachagua is cleared by the courts?” Kuria was asked.
“If he is cleared, that’s something else. But as of now, the perception is that he is a ‘Kamagera’—that he is going to jaza [fill] the vehicles for the Kalonzos of this world and the Matiangis and then bye,” Moses Kuria explained.
A region at a crossroads
By using the term Kamagera, a slang reference to a tout who helps fill a public service vehicle but never actually travels with the passengers, Moses Kuria painted a dismissive picture of Gachagua’s current standing.
He suggested that, in the eyes of many, the former Deputy President is merely a placeholder or a kingmaker for outsiders like Kalonzo Musyoka or Fred Matiang’i, rather than a destination in his own right.
The implications for the 2027 general election are significant.
If the Mt. Kenya region continues to lag in registration, the traditional arithmetic of Kenyan elections could be upended, shifting the balance of power toward Western Kenya, the Rift Valley, or the Nyanza regions.