Wiper Party boss Kalonzo Musyoka has already moved from 'on your marks, get set and is now on the go mode' in trying the hard task of winning the vote-rich Mountain ahead of 2027.
Mr Musyoka and his allies are projecting him as Mt Kenya's alternative especially given the political future of Mr Gachagua, who is rapidly gaining popularity in the region, is uncertain unless he successfully petitions courts to overturn his impeachment by Parliament that bars him from vying in upcoming elections.
Currently, the mountain is in a mourning mood following the impeachment of Mr Gachagua, a move that has eroded President William Ruto's 2022 fanatical following that saw him scoop 87 per cent of the region's votes.
Two years down the line and the impeachment done and dusted, the president's fortunes have plummeted in Mt Kenya, leaving the region open for courtship, Musyoka already presented as a suitor.
The ground appears split along President Ruto's allies who mostly are majority elected leaders and Gachagua allies who are in tune with the grassroots if the hostility faced by the president's representatives is anything to go by.
Mr Musyoka's chances of securing the Mountain's soul are boosted by the fact that Gachagua himself appears cozy about him, referring to him as "our inlaw".
Mr Gachagua has suggested that the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru also include the Akamba to make it a behemoth association for 2027.
However, pundits believe that as long as Musyoka is currently running alone in the mountain, his conquering mission will continue looking easy.
"But wait until the rubber hits the tarmac. Mr Musyoka is only keeping the ground busy. Let him continue warming up our people before we get organized and come up with the official position," says Gachagua's Murang'a chapter lobby group chair, Mwangi Kifeeti.
Mr Kifeeti told Nation.Africa that "what Gachagua has not officially announced remains an opinion of the bearer, we are not yet decided on who to make our flag bearer".
Mr Kifeeti faulted Jubilee Party Secretary General Mr Jeremiah Kioni--who has since declared himself Mt Kenya's chief bargainer in Musyoka's possible presidency, and former Kiambu governor Mr Ferdinand Waititu "for an unorthodox attempt to make Mr Musyoka the Mt Kenya kingpin".
Mr Kifeeti said Mt Kenya is yet to be declared desperate so as to enter into panicky pacts that have not been deliberated widely and agreed upon.
Saboti MP Caleb Amisi laughs off the possibility of Mr Musyoka being the serious presidential candidate Kenya wants to save it from "the unanimously hated President Ruto regime".
He dismissed Mr Musyoka as "not serious, not hardened and certainly not the alternative leadership".
A move that has raised eyebrows among Mountaineers is Gachagua's lawyer Mr Ndegwa Njiru hitting the ground to endorse Mr Musyoka.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru delivers his submissions during the Petitions challenging the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
"Here we have Mr Njiru as our hope that he is going to help Mr Gachagua's impeachment get quashed by the courts and have him contest the 2027 presidency. In the same breath, Mr Njiru has a different Candidate. Will he not collapse Gachagua in the courts to have his candidate gain an advantage?" poses Ms Tabitha Nduta who chairs The Central Region Villagers' Women league for Gachagua.
Last Sunday, Mr Njiru accompanied Mr Musyoka in a Murang'a tour where after endorsing him for the presidency in 2027, conceded to demands by the audience to also mention Mr Gachagua.
"Be patient, be still...I will be giving you guidance in the New Year...I'm consulting with the clergy, the business community, Gen Z....several stakeholders so that we can get organised and strategic," Gachagua said, hence making Musyoka's inroads premature in the region.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua addresses congregants at Kangari AIPCA Church in Murang’a on November 24, 2024.
Photo credit: Pool
Political analyst and scholar Prof Peter Kagwanja believes that the Mountain is in a decision moment "only that mostly as of now is being driven by emotions".
He said "it is only after the emotions subside and area people get objectively focused that the best way forward will be arrived at".
He said there is 2027 politics and 2022-2027 development agenda to balance "hence why these early campaigns might leave area people in a more poorer state than it is".
"There are those roaming the region heaping our people with more promises even before those that have already been issued have been honoured...others giving our elderly maize flour at a time when it is raining instead of giving them seed and fertiliser".
Democratic Congress youth's national leader Ms Gladys Njoroge believes that Musyoka needs to project himself more seriously and credibly than he is doing.
"It is true that in terms of numbers Musyoka presents us with a good workable deal. But the question is whether he can win acceptability in Mt Kenya," she said.
As a man who mostly campaigns inside Ukambani and is perceived as one who only moves out to visit regions believed to host members of his community (like in Mbeere of Embu County and Ithanga in Murang'a), his campaigns attract more skeptism than optimism.
"By always being seen in the company of Mt Kenya poll losers, some with serious anti-integrity cases in courts, he portrays himself as a man with a hurriedly assembled makeshift campaign team. Let him be seen with serious people in the region...people like Kenyatta...let us see him receiving defectors," said Ms Njoroge.
Mr Calvin Otieno of the Bunge la Mwananchi says Mr Musyoka has in the past failed to project himself as a man who can bite the bullet for the benefit of Kenyans.
"I think he is being misled by a few individuals in Mt Kenya. The Mountain by its history loves brave, wealthy, generous, charismatic and with a trace of crude ambitions...Musyoka does not fit anywhere there," he said.
He added that Kenyatta dealt Musyoka a credibility blow when he had him replaced in 2022 by Martha Karua as a running mate.
"The silent message was that Musyoka has since ran out of national steam and no longer can command his region...you can see how Ukambani votes in different ways and he could not even line up all wiper senators and MPs to fight against Gachagua's impeachment," Mr Otieno says.
Another issue being raised as causing jitters in his campaigns is the presence of former Mungiki leader Mr Maina Njenga.
"I can tell you for free that I am one of the founder members of Mungiki. Mr Njenga is my creation and I can tip you that the more you have him in your campaigns the more gap you put between yourself and right thinking members of the society," says Kiama kia Ma national patron Mr Kung'u Muigai.
Mr Njenga--who again has Mr Njiru as his advocate-- appears to be in Musyoka's campaigns to dim Gachagua's star where he keeps on declaring that "the impeachment did not mean the Mountain has suffered leadership crisis".
Mr Njenga said that "the very court cases he was influencing against me are now his menu in the same courts".
Embakasi North MP James Gakuya on Tuesday told Nation.Africa that "unless Mr Njenga has his own issues, to the best of my knowledge Gachagua was not Interior CS, a police officer or prosecutor when the former Mungiki chairman was being arrested and charged".
Instead, Mr Gakuya charged, "The Interior CS was the current Deputy President Prof Kithure Kindiki, the man Njenga should be seeking answers from about his claimed persecutions".
How Kalonzo sells himself in Mt Kenya:
