Why Ruto is giving Mt Kenya wide berth
By People Reporter, March 8, 2025Even as President William Ruto heightens his efforts to court former Prime Minister Raila Odinga ahead of 2027, one thing is evident among political pundits.
The fact that the Head of State has deliberately ignored Mt Kenya, his main political bastion in the last general election.
Ever since President Ruto’s fall out with his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, a notable political shift has rippled through Central where the Head of State has not set foot since June last year.
Instead, the President has concentrated his efforts and energies in Raila’s strongholds of Nyanza, Western and Coast as he gives a wide berth to his former political bastion Central, where Gachagua has pitched tent.
President Ruto has since abandoned his long-mastered “Mwathani agocwo and Ngai ni mwega,” Kikuyu greetings and replaced it with “Jo thurwa umor and Jo thurwa untie?” as well as “musangalire?
Ironically, the new faces… Mutahi Kagwe (Agriculture), Lee Kinyanjui (Investment, Trade and Industry) and William Kabogo (Information, Communications and Digital Economy) whom President Ruto had incorporated into the Cabinet with a view to reviving his fortunes in the region have gone mute and hardly make forays there.
Other former Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition stalwarts from the region whose co-optation into the government has failed to ignite any excitement in Mt Kenya include former Laikipia governor Nderitu Muriithi (Kenya Revenue Authority), his former Murang’a counterpart Mwangi wa Iria (Public Procurement Regulatory Board) and Peter Kenneth (National Standards Council).
Fallen from his grip
Since last year, the President has visited Nyanza, Coast and Western more times than he did in 2022 while given a wide berth to Mt Kenya, the region he visited more times than any other region in the same period.
And as he deliberately ignores the region, Gachagua seems to be having a field day in the voter rich bloc where he has pitched tent as he popularises his villager movement.
Political analyst Javas Bigambo believes that Dr Ruto’s decision not to visit Central over the last seven months is a deliberate one hinged on his realisation that the region has fallen from his grip.
Bigambo says though Dr Ruto’s could be right in his move to court new political allies in the name of Raila, it was suicidal for him to initiate the impeachment of Gachagua and later on removal of allies of his former deputy from key parliamentary committees.
“President Ruto’s failure to visit any region in Mt Kenya over the past seven months is a conscious choice. He is obviously aware that the region has bolted out and there is nothing else he can do to get it back,” says Bigambo.
As such, Bigambo says, Dr Ruto desperately needs Raila to fill the void left by Gachagua, whom he says has taken advantage of the President’s mistake to kick him and his allies out of the government.
In his forays in the region, Gachagua has occasionally used rhetoric that positions him as a victim of political betrayal by Dr Ruto’s government.
“By framing his relationship with Ruto as one that was once marked by loyalty but later turned into political neglect, Gachagua has been able to tap into the frustrations of the people in Mt. Kenya who feel sidelined by the national government,” says Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi.
Mwangangi says this narrative of betrayal, combined with his continued defence of the region’s interests has allowed Gachagua to craft an image as a leader out to fight for the region’s rights.
In this, Gachagua speaks to the aspirations of Mt. Kenya’s people, presenting himself as a defender of their rights and resources—a contrast to Ruto’s national and sometimes pan-Kenyan vision.
When President Ruto became Kenya’s fifth President, he was the darling of Mt. Kenya people, an amalgamation that would be short lived. This political dalliance began in 2013 following a political deal with former President Uhuru Kenyatta. Once political adversaries, the two were united by the charges they were facing at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Charm offensive
Uhuru, eyeing the presidency made Ruto the Robin to his Batman, endearing him to the Mt. Kenya region people. Ever the political genius, Ruto took advantage of this adoration and went to work to ensure the good people from the mountain loved him.
However, cracks emerged after a handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga was brokered in 2018.
Ruto swiftly capitalised on the fallout and dethroned Uhuru Kenyatta as the heir apparent of Mt. Kenya. He embarked on a charm offensive, fundraising in schools and churches.
He loved the locals and the locals loved him back. He frequently greeted them in the Kikuyu dialect “Mwathani agocwo and Ngai ni mwega.” (Praise God, and God is good.)
The bond culminated in Ruto’s decisive victory over Raila, Uhuru’s preferred Presidential candidate in the 2022 polls. The election also saw Ruto allies sweep key elective seats, including ward representatives, and parliamentary, senatorial and gubernatorial seats.
With this victory, Dr Ruto declared himself as the political supremo of Mt. Kenya subsequently installed himself as the de facto kingpin of the vote-rich region.
He referred to Uhuru and Raila as outsiders.
“There are those who have now realised that there is a mountain somewhere. They have resorted to using Google Maps to locate it. I want to tell them that the mountain has its owner,” Ruto said in the run-up to the 2022 General Election.
Dr Ruto’s foray into Mt. Kenya did not stop after being sworn in. He spiritedly toured every corner of the region for thanksgiving ceremonies and prayer rallies, thanking residents for their unwavering support and vowing to walk with them.
“Mt Kenya people, you have made our country proud. You have broken barriers of ethnicity by voting for us in the general elections. This election broke the cycle of ethnicity witnessed in previous elections,” he once said during a thanksgiving service at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri.
“I want to say in a very special way, the people of Mt. Kenya did something unimaginable and unexpected. That we have put our nation on a new trajectory and Kenya will never be the same again.”
But since the impeachment of Gachagua, Dr Ruto’s honeymoon in the region ended with the President now appearing to sideline Mt Kenya in all his activities.
And now with reports indicating that President Ruto could replace several of the current Cabinet Secretaries from Mt Kenya with Raila’s allies from areas such as Nyanza, Western and Coast, his relationship with the region that voted for him to the last is set to hit the rocks.