Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua are engaged in a fierce competition for the soul of the vote-rich Mt Kenya, each triggering different political moves to clinch the throne that will be crucial, maybe decisive, in the 2027 General Election.
Ousted through impeachment in October 2024, Mr Gachagua re-invented himself with the United Opposition and his Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP), which he says will be the vehicle of the region in the 2027 polls.
On the other side, Prof Kindiki, who first lost the President William Ruto slot to Mr Gachagua in 2022, has rolled out a plan to cement his hold of the region’s political direction.
Mr Gachagua knows too well that losing the Mt Kenya grip will render his politics and his ambitions irrelevant while Prof Kindiki equally knows his survival is tied to his ability to control the same region.
“Both of them must strive to control at least 85 percent of the Mountain. It is this Mountain that largely made Dr Ruto the 2022 winner after he garnered 87 percent of area votes. He won the race with 1.64 percent translating 233,211 votes hence why the region—ceteris paribus—remains one of the key 2027 determinants of how the presidential race will end,” says political scientist Mr John Okumu.
Democratic Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua at a past function in Nairobi.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
He says that Prof Kindiki as the incumbent should realize that his political performance in the Mountain between now and the time of picking a running mate remains key on how his career will shape out towards 2032 General Election.
“Likewise, Mr Gachagua should remain awake to the fact that if he loses the Mountain, his fortunes beyond the impeachment he is battling in courts will take a nightmarish trajectory,” says Mr Okumu.
The two have been battling on the development agenda front, with Prof Kindiki enjoying the benefit of being in office and directly linked to the kitchen where the national cake is baked.
“I am the one who is Deputy President and with the crown on my face. Mr Gachagua is former whose crown has since fallen and is now a useless piece of scrap metal. I want to pursue development for our people and use it as our campaign rate card in 2027. He should tell us what he did with power when he was in office and why he was kicked out,” Prof Kindiki recently said in Meru.
Prof Kindiki has since been describing Mr Gachagua as a proud, arrogant bully who thrives on setting downfall traps for others.
But Mr Gachagua during a public rally in Murang’a County hit out at the Professor dismissing him as the Deputy President no voter endorsed in 2022, an equivalent of President Ruto’s yes man with no independence going around Mt Kenya region heaping area voters with more fake development promises on top of those his boss is yet to fulfil.
As the battle rages, the Kindiki wing has mulled with the idea of creating a Mountain within the Mountain by detaching the Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Embu Counties from the rest of Mt Kenya and create their base called Mt Kenya East.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku said the move is sad but necessary since Mt Kenya East remains marginalized in terms of development while Mt Kenya West is already near arriving to Singapore.
“If need be, we will not hesitate to carve out Mt Kenya East from Mt Kenya West and chart our independent political destiny. There is no way we will let Mr Gachagua ride on our backs to achieve his impeachment revenge against President Ruto. We will pitch our safety in President Ruto’s reelection with Prof Kindiki as our point man, not Gachagua,” he said.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki addressing a resource mobilisation drive for small-scale traders in Lunga Lunga, Kwale County, on February 28, 2026
Photo credit: DPCS
This has brought out the aspect of big brother syndrome versus marginalization where Embu governor Ms Cecily Mbarire repeatedly laments that Mt Kenya West uses East to get power and after winning it marginalizes the East in accrued benefits.
But in a quick rejoinder, Mr Gachagua told Nation on March 12, 2026 that Prof Kindiki’s math are awkwardly self-hurting.
“If turnout is not 100 percent and the voters split, it means he is relying on at least less than 500, 000 votes. Splitting the Mountain is the surest way of making Prof Kindiki irrelevant both as a politician and as a Deputy President. It is the same as saying he is no longer interested in being a running mate in 2027. I will lock him out in all spheres of Mt Kenya,” he said.
Mt Kenya East has a total of nearly 1.4 million votes, with Meru at 772,573, Tharaka Nithi (231,966), and Embu (334, 684).
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri on March 27, 2026 told Nation that “there are underground plans aimed at undoing Mr Gachagua in the Mountain as a whole…President Ruto seeks to make the Mountain part of the national political platform without any consideration to gatekeepers”.
Mr Kiunjuri said the bigger President Ruto Mathematics is not to get less than 30 percent of the Mountain vote.
While Prof Kindiki and his brigade are busy selling President Ruto as safe hands for area interests, Mr Gachagua is busy selling him as area bogeyman in what has bred Tutam (two terms) vs Wantam (One term) slogans competing for space in the region.
President William Ruto accompanied by his deputy Kithure Kindiki in Wajir county during the last event of phase one of the Nyota Programme.
Photo credit: PCS
Once in a while, Prof Kindiki and Mr Gachagua are tossing decency out of the window and insulting others in words not too nice to publish, the line of attack being encouraged by President Ruto himself who has accused the former deputy president of various crimes.
But Mr Gachagua is hitting back, leading to political accusations and counter-accusations.
Members of parliament like Gathoni wa Muchomba (Githuguri), Mary wa Maua (Maragua), Peter Kihungi (Kangema), Muchangi Karemba (Runyenjes) and Juja’s George Koimburi have decamped from Gachagua’s loyalty to Prof Kindiki’s.
In turn Mr Gachagua enjoys backing of a substantial number of elected members of the UDA party who include MPs, Senators women reps and MCAs, him promising to continue ground campaigns dubbed “Fagia Fagia (wipe out” all those who will not have joined his DCP.
From left: Opposition chiefs Eugene Wamalwa, Kalonzo Musyoka, Rigathi Gachagua and Justine Muturi during Interdenominational service at Kitharani Grounds in Gatanga Constituency on March 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Pool
One of the biggest wins for Prof Kindiki against Mr Gachagua was in the November 2025 by-election in Mbeere North where government candidate Mr Leo Wamuthende won against Newton Karish with about 500 votes. Prof Kindiki was to later in February win Evurore and Muminji by-elections in the same constituency, leaving Mr Gachagua battling a credibility crisis.
Prof Kindiki has used the two wins to create a perception that he can match Mr Gachagua’s ground agility and at worst, can deliver 50 percent of the Mountain to the president Ruto’s reelection bid.
Mr Gachagua has not found a credible explanation as to how he is King of the Mountain who vows he is in total control but could not deliver any of the three seats.
But as they remain tangled in the supremacy fight, another one is raging in the courts where Mr Gachagua is challenging legality of Kindiki’s appointment as well as constitutionality of his October 2024 impeachment.
“Prof Kindiki was cleared to assume office by a bench of three Judges who appellate court has since ruled that they were empanelled illegally. That clouds Prof Kindiki’s Deputy Presidency with related illegality. The case for Mr Gachagua’s removal is also monumental for it raises serious constitutional questions that will shape jurisprudence space for ages to come. The battle in court is epic,” Senior Counsel Mr Dan Maanzo who also is Makueni Senator.
The impeachment case is also rated as one that will influence who between Prof Kindiki and Mr Gachagua will take the Mountain to the next level beyond 2027.
“If impeachment case is concluded before we go to vote and goes against Mr Gachagua, he will remain barred to hold public office for 10 years since the date he was voted out of office. If legality case of Prof Kindiki’s Deputy Presidency goes against him, he might be ordered to pay back to Kenyans all the benefits that include salary and allowances he will have enjoyed. The outcome of the cases if concluded before we go to vote will be key to how their political battle turns out,” said advocate of the High Court Mr Timothy Kariuki.
