In what many political pundits describe as a daredevil act, President William Ruto intends to face a highly disturbed Mt Kenya in the next two weeks.
However, the date that is intended to make him an area guest for six days remains tentative, since his handlers have submitted that the actualisation of the visit is dependent on weather—both climatic and political—conditions.
The region has evolved from a Ruto diehard zone in the past six months to one of his fiercest opposition bases, fuelled by the October 2024 impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Mr Gachagua was impeached after serving for only two years and was replaced by Prof Kithure Kindiki, the soft-spoken lawyer from Tharaka Nithi County—a move that has yet to heal the wounds in the populous region.
It is against that background that the President's intended visit is attracting mixed reactions, with many urging caution, and others buoying him on to dare face Mt Kenya.
According to political scientist John Okumu, the president can use the advantage of incumbency and its trappings of power to reclaim the region.
“What he needs to do is take advantage of Mr Gachagua’s penchant for speaking out of turn and numerous goofs to generate fatigue among those he seeks to walk out of government,” he said.
Mr Okumu says the greatest threat to the president in Mt Kenya is Mr Gachagua, “who by every dawn nears actualising his core agenda of ensuring this government is not re-elected.”
“The President can only gain equal opportunity in Mt Kenya if he were to deal with the shepherd so that the sheep can disperse for easy takeover,” says Mr Okumu.
He suggests that President Ruto invests more in seasoned politicians from the region who are known to have grassroots instincts and a record of surviving area political euphoria.
“He has good politicians in his wing… people like former President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he met in Ichaweri in December last year. He has flamboyant politicians known to ride against the waves like William Kabogo, Mwangi Kiunjuri, and Elijah Kururia,” he said.
He added that Dr Ruto should seriously follow up on the Kenyatta factor and turn their last meeting in Ichaweri into a strength in Mt Kenya.
Political commentator Prof Peter Kagwanja feels that the President must find a way of getting back into the people’s hearts by identifying key priorities.
“He should make it well known in advance that he will not be in Mt Kenya to politick about 2027. He must go there to provide tangible evidence that he is dealing with the economic charters that he signed with area people,” Prof Kagwanja said.
He went on: “Mt Kenya is about entrepreneurship, and what area people want is money in their pockets as profits from capital—not tokenism.”
President William Ruto addresses residents of Embakasi West after presiding over the groundbreaking ceremony of the Umoja Sewerage System on March 14, 2025.
Photo credit: PCS
Mt Kenya, Prof Kagwanja says, thrives on sound national fiscal policies that expand business opportunities countrywide.
“This means the president can endear himself to Mt Kenya by fixing the national economy, reducing draconian taxes, and paying pending bills while in State House,” Prof Kagwanja says.
It is in that reasoning that Dr Ruto’s handlers feel they can upturn Gachagua’s tables and make the President's fortunes shine once more.
However, Nyandarua Senator John Methu, a Gachagua diehard, calls it a bluff, saying the former deputy president can only get stronger.
Mr Methu says the president has “made his bed of nails in Mt Kenya, and he must lie on it.”
“Nonsense,” Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri shoots back.
“It is never over until it is over. The President still has a mathematical chance of reclaiming the mountain. We will not be cowed to appear as if supporting and hosting President Ruto is a crime,” says Mr Kiunjuri.
“There are other regions that need him. Let us not be fools who remain ignorant of how resources are lobbied for through executive influence,” says The Service Party (TSP) leader.
But Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu, another Gachagua loyalist, said President Ruto is making the visit to save face.
“He knows very well that he has declared political war on us from Mt Kenya. In the National Assembly and the Senate, he has been de-whipping us and replacing us with his newfound lovers in other regions,” Mr Nyutu said.
“Let the President be told by honest people that impeaching Gachagua was a direct assault on Mt Kenya—a hostile engagement that, were we in the military, the act would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”
Mr Nyutu said: “Let him know he intends to visit a region that feels betrayed, smitten, ridiculed, and shamed by him and his loyalists.”
“There needs to be less rhetoric. Stop advertising what you plan to do—act. The government is not an advertising agency; it is an agency that implements actions, and that’s what we want to see,” he said last month.
The comment by Archbishop Muheria attracted quick condemnation from Prof Kindiki, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi , and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, who all insisted that it was the government’s job to advertise its activities, including for public participation.
Mr Gachagua has been whipping anti-Ruto emotions in the region, painting his former boss as a political liar who wormed his way into the populous region’s hearts, only to stab them in the back.
“President Ruto is not a man we can trust any longer. He has betrayed our trust. We made him president, but he started scheming to be our Mt Kenya kingpin. He wanted to capture us and make us his slaves. We have no business supporting anything to do with him,” he said on February 9, 2025.
For Dr Ruto, who rose to become a darling of Mt Kenya from 2013 when he teamed up with Uhuru Kenyatta for a joint ticket, and again in 2017 for re-election, and in 2022 when he used that affection to dethrone Mr Kenyatta from his kingship and amassed 85 per cent of the region’s votes—the last six months are unfamiliar territory, at least going by recent history.
Gone are the days when area musicians like Kamande wa Kioi used to release songs like Ruto Niaciarwo na Mburu (Ruto be birthed through goat sacrifice), advocating for his adoption as a Mountaineer and calling him Ruto arap Kioi.
Today, the area music scene is littered with songs ridiculing the president and his government—some even being played from the pulpit.
But Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology don Charles Mwangi believes that “Mt Kenya is losing the script,” arguing that “too much anger-based politics will only hurt the region more than it helps.”
“Mt Kenya needs to resolve that we will not vote for Dr Ruto in 2027. That is the high likelihood. But we should not make it difficult for him to visit us and work from Mt Kenya,” Mr Mwangi says.
President William Ruto addresses residents of Mathare Constituency in Nairobi during his tour of the city on March 11, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“His loyalists can even stage-manage heckling against the president to make Mt Kenya look bad in the eyes of those Mr Gachagua seeks to attract into a possible anti-Ruto alliance for 2027.”
Githunguri MP Ms Gathoni wa Muchomba, a Gachagua ally, said Mt Kenya will welcome Dr Ruto, but will speak truth to power when he does.
“We in Mt Kenya are not known to be hecklers, but we cannot withstand lies… Let him come, we will listen to him, but he should avoid choking us with lies about health insurance and university education funding models,” said Ms Wa Muchomba.
Naivasha MP Ms Jayne Kihara, another Gachagua ally, said the president is free to visit the region “but he should avoid behaving in a manner suggesting he wants to pit us against others.”
“We need to hear the president come to give our people title deeds, declare illicit brews, narcotics, crop and livestock thefts as area tragedies, direct his security agencies to stop protecting illicit trade dealers, and above all, announce a review of draconian import and trading taxes,” Ms Kihara said.
