Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and Mbeere North UDA candidate Leo Wamuthende in Mbeere North Constituency campaigns. Inset: Rigathi Gachagua and opposition candidate Newton Karish.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki arrived in Mbeere North on November 17, 2025, for campaigns in the just concluded by-election, to find a weakened United Democratic Alliance team reeling from sustained attacks by three heavyweights in the constituency.
Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua, and a combined effort of Democratic Party (DP) leader Justin Muturi and his Devolution Empowerment Party (DEP) counterpart Lenny Kivuti was determined to deny UDA victory.
A Muturi-Kivuti combination was lethal, given that the two politicians who control more than half of Mbeere North votes, were working together for the first time in the history of local politics. Muturi and Kivuti are no doubt the voice of Mbeere North and residents usually took their word as gospel truth.
From left: (background) Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Mbeere North MP-elect Leonard Muthende. (Foreground) President William Ruto and DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua.
The DP joined the UDA campaign team, which was led by immediate former area MP, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku, Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire and Senator Alexander Mundigi.
A quick change of strategy with a focus on the issues affecting the largely semi-arid constituency, where he focused on holding meetings with community leaders, changed the tide, according to members of the UDA campaign strategy team.
Between November 17, 2025, and November 26, a day before the elections were held, Prof Kindiki held more than 50 strategy meetings and 17 rallies, which are believed to have tilted the scale to UDA’s favour.
“The DP held 17 rallies that we publicised even on his social media platforms but behind the scenes, he used to hold not less than four meetings each day. The meetings used to constitute local leaders, mobilisers and party agents,” said a source in Prof Kindiki’s strategy team.
The first rally rallies at Siakago fired up the UDA candidate Mr Leonard Wamuthende, popularly known as Leo, who for several days had been on the receiving end of attacks from Mr Gachagua, Mr Muturi and Mr Kivuti.
“I will teach Gachagua a lesson and demonstrate to him that he is not and will never be the Mt Kenya Kingpin. I will floor Goriath Gachagua, with a single blow and show him that I'm the real King of the Mountain, I will humble him, never again he goes round the region boasting and insulting other elected leaders," Prof Kindiki said on November 17.
UDA’s Mbeere North by-election candidate Leo Muthende addresses a final campaign rally at Gitiburi Village in Embu County on November 24, 2024, ahead of Thursday’s poll. He was accompanied by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and other leaders allied to President William Ruto.
He also declared that he would remain in Mbeere North Constituency until November 28, 2025 and return to Nairobi with Mr Muthende as the MP-Elect, ready for swearing in.
Prof Kindiki also sold Mr Wamuthende as the best bet for the people of Mbeere North, saying he stood for development and not mare rhetorics he claimed were being perpetrated during campaigns by the opposition.
“Wamuthende is placed to transform Mbeere North and with the support of the government he will take the semi-arid Constituency forward," the DP said at Siakago on November 17.
At the call of the election, Mr Wamuthende won the seat with 15,802 votes against his closest challenger Newton Kariuki (Karish) of DP who garnered 15,308 votes. Mr Duncan Mbui of Chama cha Kazi was a distant third with 2,480 in an election Mr Muthende won with a thin margin of 494 votes.
The total number of votes cast in the constituency with 55,124 registered voters was 33,947, representing 61.9 voter turnout, one of the highest in Kenya’s by-elections history.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki congratulates Leo Muthende of UDA after he was declared the winner in the Mbeere North by-election.
The UDA victory deals the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua who has been claiming he is the Mt Kenya region kingpin a big blow while Prof Kithure Kindiki has effectively claimed the crown.
So how did Prof Kindiki win the seat, effectively stamping his authority as the Mt Kenya region kingpin? From the onset, the DP mapped a strategic campaign trail route, maximising on the specific issues and development needs in the three wards of Mbeere North Constituency – Evurore, Nthawa and Muminji.
With Mr Gachagua dismissing Prof Kindiki as President William Ruto's employee, the DP took on his predecessor with the contest being framed a battle for the soul of Mt. Kenya Region. Throughout the campaign, Prof Kindiki described the former DP as a bully who wanted to intimidate the Mbeere North electorate to vote for his preferred candidate.
“We will not allow a bully to dictate to us who will lead Mbeere North Constituency. When he was deputy President, he never stepped in this Constituency. He did not lobby for any project for the people of Mbeere North. When he wasimpeached and no longer has power, he is coming here with insults and empty political rhetoric, pretending to love the people of Mbeere North. Power is when the crown is on the head. Once the crown falls, it's not any different from a piece of useless mabati (metal),” he said.
"The man for you"
From dilapidated roads to insufficient water for domestic use and agricultural activities to low electricity connectivity, Prof Kindiki, who hails from the neighbouring Tharaka Nithi County, seemed to be aware of the needs of the people and fronted Mr Wamuthende as the man fit to address the development challenges in the constituency.
“We know that the opposition would not deliver on these projects including construction of roads that the government has already started and this message resonated well with residents who understood and accepted that their issues will be addressed,” said Mr Jackson Njagi, a resident of Embu County.
However, immediately Mr Wamuthende was declared the winner, the opposition rejected the results, saying they were manipulated.
Mr Muturi termed the election a “sham” saying the violence that was witnessed in some of the polling station bordered on voter bribery and intimidation.
“We cannot define what happened in Mbeere as an election because besides voters being enticed with money, on the voting day several polling stations were attacked by goons. At Gitivuri polling station that is controlled by Mr Ruku, our agents were chased away and your guess is as good as mine as to what happened there,” Mr Muturi said.
Democratic Party leader Justin Muturi addresses journalists after casting his ballot at Kanyuambora Primary School polling centre during the Mbeere North by-election.
He went on: “IEBC stands indited and we don’t have an independent electoral body. It is an extension of executive and the body that was intended to run the country’s elections according to the Constitution is today being controlled from State House. What President William Ruto’s government should know is that should we get into the 2027 General Election with is IEBC, then it is a recipe for chaos.”
He said the opposition was collecting information on what transpired on the stations where vioelce was witnessed, and would announce its next course of action. “However, in any decision we make, we will not antagonise Mbeere North voters because we know it is just less than two years to the next General Election and we would want them to benefit from development projects implemented by the government,” he added.
But former area MP Mr Muriuki Njagagua, who served for two terms and is now a senior presidential adviser and who was the chairman of the UDA campaign team, dismissed the DP candidate as a non- starter.
“I was chosen to coordinate the campaigns since I understand very well the Mbeere North politics and the needs of the people. Now that our candidate has won, we will move very fast and implement the projects we promised so that our people benefit,” Mr Njagagua said.
