Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.
Friends are turning into foes as the 2027 General Election campaign realignment starts taking shape.
Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro’s imminent ouster from the leadership of the powerful National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee to make way for opposition leader, Raila Odinga’s, allies signals the volatility of the political landscape.
Mr Nyoro has held the post since President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance swept to power in 2022. In the early months of the new government, he was touted as a potential running mate in subsequent polls.
This tacit propping by politicians in the President’s inner circle was interpreted as a scheme to tame the then Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, who was working to consolidate his Mt Kenya base.
President William Ruto chats with former DP Rigathi Gachagua (left) and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro
Two years down the Parliament voted to remove Mr Gachagua from office by way of impeachment in a plot orchestrated by President Ruto in October last year. He was replaced as DP by Prof Kithure Kindiki.
Mr Nyoro, too, is now at the crossroads and, ironically, his tribulations are tied to the former Deputy President’s fate.
"What more evidence do you want, given that the President's United Democratic Alliance has sanctioned Mr Nyoro's de-whipping as chairman, leaving him as an ordinary member of the powerful Budget and Appropriations Committee?" Embakasi North MP James Gakuya asked.
Collective responsibility
Mr Nyoro has become a causality of the changes alongside Mr Gachagua's allies in the National Assembly and the Senate.
National Assembly Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung'wah said: "We want to align these committees to rules of procedure, development agenda and responsiveness to the needs of the people.”
Majority Whip Silvanus Osoro said the committees must adhere to the doctrine of collective responsibility and also have members who respect party positions.
Mr Nyoro, who has remained mute on national politics, is believed to have found himself in trouble when he was a no-show during the Gachagua impeachment process. He has kept off his 2022 and 2023 high-profile politics in which he positioned himself as a government hawk, with an eye on a bigger position.
It is a drastic change of fortunes for a man who once featured prominently on the list of potential running mates for Dr Ruto in the run-up to the 2022 election.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua (left) and President William Ruto. Inset: Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.
Mr Gachagua, who bagged the DP’s slot, later confessed that Mr Nyoro was among five leaders who orchestrated the defiance against former President Uhuru Kenyatta for backing Mr Odinga to succeed him.
"Nyoro, Ichung'wah, Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara, former Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and I teamed up and strategised against Mr Kenyatta. This included holding night meetings, resulting in Mt Kenya rebelling against Mt Kenyatta and voting for Dr Ruto to a man in the 2022 polls," he said.
Mr Gachagua said Mr Nyoro remained a crucial link in Dr Ruto’s campaigns "and also to me because when the Jubilee government started harassing me, sometimes I hid in his house and even spent some nights there".
But in keeping with the deceptive and ruthless nature of Kenyan politics, immediately after President Ruto won power, Mr Nyoro was among the first people from Mt Kenya to challenge Mr Gachagua's position as DP.
Mr Nyoro's allies; Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu and Gatanga MP Edward Muriu said they wished Mr Gachagua was sacked and the Kiharu MP elevated to the position of DP.
They further demanded assurances from the President’s inner circle that Mr Nyoro be President Ruto’s preferred successor in 2032, that is in the event he won re-election in 2027.
Mr Nyoro’s allies maintained this position until the impeachment politics erupted, which saw them beat a hasty retreat. In a split second, Mr Nyutu and Mr Muriu transformed into Mr Gachagua’s fiercest defenders.
Mr Nyoro has spoken about his changing political fortunes.
"I will remain peaceful even if my eyes are poked. I won’t fight back. I will apologise for putting my eyes in their way. If they hit my face, I will remain cool and apologise for putting my face in their way...but this should never be misconstrued to mean that I am a coward," he said.
Mr Nyoro’s failure to give a public statement explaining why he kept off the Gachagua impeachment saga has only fuelled speculation about his political future.
Since all elected leaders in Murang’a County have aligned themselves with either Dr Ruto’s or Mr Gachagua’s camp, Mr Nyoro is under immense pressure to take a stand.
Nominated Senator Veronica Maina, Nominated MP Sabina Chege and Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo belong to President Ruto’s wing, but all the other leaders from Murang’a have taken sides openly with the former DP.
Mr Gachagua, who has packaged himself as Mt Kenya's leader, has warned Mr Nyoro about his continued silence.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.
“The community has entered into a phase where major decisions are to be made about 2027. I don't know where Mr Nyoro stands. What I know is that matters as grave as the ones confronting us require all of us to take a public stand," Mr Gachagua recently said on Inooro TV.
“Matters of grave importance cannot be entrusted to leaders without a stand.”
While attending a church service in Mathioya Constituency, Maragua MP Mary wa Maua said: “We need to take stock and state clearly where our hearts are as Murang'a leaders. Some of us are yet to make a stand.”
DP Kindiki likened Mr Nyoro's stature in the budget-making process and allocation of development budgets to that of a village assistant chief, sparking an outcry in Mt Kenya.
“The man who calls the shots is Mr Ichung'wah and not Mr Nyoro,” he said, before MPs whose loyalty was brought to the question were kicked out of plum positions in House committees.
Reveal next move
In an interview with Citizen TV last December, Mr Nyoro said he will be revealing his next move by the close of this year.
"It will be about development projects implemented, quality of life improved...and that is what the electorate desires from us," he said.
However, as the youthful MP continues fence-sitting, a lobby has emerged in Murang'a County calling itself People's Party of Kenya youths for Nyoro 2027.
The lobby is led by Mr Mixson Warui who told Nation.Africa: "We have resolved among ourselves that Mr Nyoro should team up with former Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i” to form a 2027 alliance.”
“We have not been sanctioned by Mr Nyoro, but we will not sit around and watch him being brought down by politics sponsored by President Ruto.”
Mr Warui said the impeachment of Mr Gachagua has derailed Mr Nyoro's political plan.
"That impeachment has made Mt Kenya leave the government, hence rocking Mr Nyoro's political star," Mr Warui said.
And analysts said that Mr Nyoro’s now has little room for political wriggling.
Former Mt Kenya MCAs Caucus Chairman (2017-2022) Charles Mwangi said that the Kiharu MP must first address local politics.
"I can’t advise him to ignore local politics. Mt Kenya voters are known to be very harsh. In the past they have rejected big names like Uhuru Kenyatta, Wangari Maathai, Martha Karua and Amos Kimunya," he said.
Mr Mwangi said that it would be risky for Mr Nyoro to support President Ruto or take an independent path since Mt Kenya region appears to be spoiling for a fight.
"This leaves Mr Nyoro with the option of joining Gachagua battalion. But will Gachagua men forgive Mr Nyoro whom they loudly accuse of being part and parcel of the impeachment politics? Only time can tell," Mr Mwangi concluded.
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