Some of Dr William Ruto’s key campaigners in the 2022 presidential race have turned into his fiercest opponents ahead of the 2027 contest following a bitter falling-out.
Most of them became bitter rivals after being kicked out of their plum government positions in a perceived case of “use and dump’.
In the run-up to the 2022 General Election, some of the individuals stuck their necks out for Dr Ruto against strong political waves in their regions. They also went against the system and the then President, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, who supported former opposition leader, Raila Odinga (now deceased). At the time, Dr Ruto was Mr Kenyatta’s deputy during the Jubilee regime.
But when the Kenya Kwanza government hit turbulence, some of the people who stood by President Ruto, through thick and thin, became casualties of the administration’s infighting. Others were consumed by the June 2024 Gen Z-led anti-government protests. They were tossed into the political cold.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
They are: former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, former United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary-General Cleophas Malala, ex-Cabinet secretaries Justin Muturi (Public Service), Eliud Owalo (ICT) and Ezekiel Machogu (Education).
Others are former Senate Majority Whip Boni Khalwale, ex-National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriation Committee chairperson Ndindi Nyoro, Nyali MP Mohammed Ali and Laikipia Senator John Kinyua.
President Ruto and his allies have said that the allies-turned critics were consumed by their own unbridled ambitions. They say that their downfall was of their own making.
“My work has become easier today because I have an assistant who understands government matters; he understands roads, electricity, universal health coverage, education, and even savings. Now we share the work, and I am happy,” Dr Ruto said when he addressed UDA aspirants at State House last Wednesday.
“Let me ask you, if it were that other person, would he have the brain to understand things the way Kindiki does?”
UDA Organising Secretary and Mwala MP Vincent Kawaya said that some leaders pushed themselves out of the government because of their selfish ambitions. He also described the realignments as a normal occurrence in any political competition.
“In any democratic space, there is entry and exit. Nothing is static in politics, and if you can manage more than 90 per cent of your team, that is fair enough.”
“If you look at the case of Owalo, he is the one who resigned. His is too ambitious. On the other hand, Malala became a liability to the party. Members had started complaining about him. He was also undermining the president,” said Mr Kawaya.
He accused Mr Nyoro, who is the Kiharu MP, of refusing to stand with the president, despite holding a key parliamentary position at the time, courtesy of UDA.
“Most of these critics will start coming back slowly. Raila almost beat us in the 2022 election, and now his former allies are working with us,” Mr Kawaya said.
Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group.
Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula, who has joined UDA from the Democratic Action Party – Kenya DAP-K, said that some of the leaders who were kicked out of the government were not loyal to the president.
The former Lugari MP said that he is ready to take up the roles of Mr Khalwale and Mr Malala to deliver President Ruto’s promises in Western region. He described the ongoing realignment as normal ahead of any election.
“They were not loyal to the president. You cannot be in government with one leg inside and the other out. I will lead Western region back to Ruto’s fold. I supported Raila on an Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya Coalition Party ticket in the last election, but in the forthcoming contest, I have decided to be with Ruto,” said Mr Savula.
But Gatanga MP Edward Muriu, an ally of Mr Gachagua, claimed that more of Dr Ruto’s allies will decamp from UDA in the run-up to the 2027 election “because they have realised that he is a pathological liar”.
“He believes in buying loyalty, instead of earning it. He is very transactional. That is why he had no problem in impeaching his deputy (Gachagua), and turning to Raila and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to form a coalition. He betrayed the Mountain,” said Mr Muriu.
“Members of UDA, especially the ones from the Mt Kenya region, are sending emissaries to Rigathi Gachagua, asking for forgiveness. They are seeking a second chance. Gachagua is on record, saying that he forgave all those who betrayed and impeached him. He has also asked for forgiveness from Mr Uhuru Kenyatta for the insults that he hurled at him during the 2022 poll campaigns,” he said.
Mr Muriu has projected that more sitting MPs from Mt Kenya region will defect from UDA starting from June.
Eliud Owalo addresses the media at the Nomiya Church headquarters in Oboch, Asembo, Siaya County, on January 11, 2026, shortly after announcing his intention to run for presidency in the 2027 General Election.
Photo credit: Alex Odhiambo | Nation Media Group
Mr Owalo became the latest top official to leave the Ruto administration. He was one of the few high-profile individuals from Luo Nyanza who backed the president against a major ODM wave.
Nyanza region was one of Raila’s bastions during the 2022 presidential race, and this made Mr Owalo a lone ranger during the campaigns.
When President Ruto ascended to power, he appointed Mr Owalo as the ICT Cabinet Secretary, a position he held until Dr Ruto dissolved the Cabinet following the Gen Z protests in June 2024.
Mr Owalo did not make it back to the Cabinet like some of his colleagues, but was later appointed to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Delivery and Government Efficiency — a position he resigned from on January 12, 2026, and, subsequently, declared his bid for the presidency.
Nyanza and Western defiance
Mr Owalo has now become a fierce critic of government policies. He has even dismissed President Ruto’s vision of propelling Kenya to a First World country as mere talk.
“Kenya cannot become like Singapore if the people’s pockets are empty. No one can think about Singapore if they can’t afford food. Let us say no to Singapore,” Mr Owalo said at the weekend.
“Approximately 90 per cent of Kenya’s wealth is in the hands of just 125 individuals. If elected president, I will reveal their identities so that we know who has been stealing public funds,” he added.
In Western Kenya, Mr Malala and Mr Khalwale went against the Azimio wave in the region to back Dr Ruto. Dr Khalwale was lucky to win the Kakamega Senate seat, in a county where most seats were swept by Raila’s ODM. Kenya Kwanza rewarded Mr Khalwale with the position of Senate Majority Whip.
Photo credit: John Nyagah | Nation Media Group
However, Mr Khalwale was stripped of the position in December 2025 following a fallout during the Malava by-election. The senator defied his party and campaigned against the UDA candidate, Mr David Ndakwa.
However, Mr Ndakwa floored the DAP-K candidate, Mr Seth Panyako, whom Mr Khalwale backed.
For his part, Mr Malala lost his bid for the Kakamega governorship after contesting on a ticket of the now-defunct Amani National Congress that was linked to Prime Cabinet Secretary Mr Musalia Mudavadi.
Mr Malala would later cross over to UDA, where he was appointed as secretary-general — a powerful position that secured him a seat in Cabinet meetings. But he was dramatically kicked out in August 2024.
Former Cabinet minister Mr Muturi, whose Democratic Party was among the affiliate parties that formed the Kenya Kwanza Alliance that campaigned for Dr Ruto, told Sunday Nation he regrets backing him.
However, during the 2024 Cabinet reshuffle, Mr Muturi was moved and appointed Public Service Cabinet Secretary.
The president later sacked him “for boycotting work”. This followed Mr Muturi’s sustained criticism of the government following the abduction of his son, Leslie, during the Gen Z protests.
And Mr Gachagua, who was impeached in October 2024, has been leading an onslaught against his former boss, Dr Ruto.
“Uhuru Kenyatta erred greatly by making Mr Ruto his running mate in 2013. He allowed him too much freedom in Mt Kenya. It is through that dalliance that I came to know Mr Ruto,” Mr Gachagua told Inooro TV recently. “Were it not for Mr Kenyatta, I wouldn’t have known Mr Ruto, and of course, I would not have found myself campaigning for him in 2022,” Mr Gachagua said.
“If Ruto had not picked me as his running mate, he wouldn’t be president today. And he knows it. If he doesn’t believe it, let him face Mt Kenya in 2027. That is when he will know the Mountain and the real sting of my influence,” he added.
“I am guilty of telling Mt Kenya people to vote for Ruto in 2022. Kenyatta is guilty of introducing Ruto to us in 2013. But Uhuru is now retired. I will correct both Uhuru’s and my mistake in 2027.”
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
In Mombasa, Nyali MP Mr Ali has become a lone opposing voice. Prior to the 2022 polls, he rode against a strong ODM wave in Mombasa to back Dr Ruto. For all his trouble, he won the election and was rewarded with a position in the National Assembly’s Special Funds Accounts Committee.
But he has since shifted gears and is now an ally of Mr Gachagua. As the chorus of loyalty surrounding the president's 2027 strategy grows across the Coast region, Mr Ali is pushing for performance-driven leadership instead of political kingpinship.
"The era of political kingpinship, and the obsession with hero-worshipping power brokers is over ,” he said.
“The Constitution allows me to walk with anyone. You saw me taking tea with Mr Gachagua and Wiper leader Mr Kalonzo Musyoka. I am looking for a development-oriented alliance,” he said.
