A new political campaign is taking shape in Mt Kenya, with leaders from the eastern bloc piling pressure on their counterparts in Mt Kenya West to back Deputy President Kithure Kindiki as President William Ruto’s running mate in the 2027 elections and possibly as presidential candidate in 2032.

The emerging argument is that having supported leaders from Mt Kenya West for decades, the East — comprising Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi, with allies in neighbouring Isiolo — now wants the political favour returned.

At the centre of the campaign is Prof Kindiki, a son of Tharaka Nithi who became Deputy President in 2024 after the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua.

The leaders from the East are seeking to turn the elevation of Prof Kindiki into a long-term political project; have him retained as Deputy President in 2027, then position him to succeed President Ruto in 2032.

The strategy, they argue, would give Mt Kenya another route to the presidency after the region's influence at the centre of government under three presidents from Mt Kenya West.

Kiambu produced Kenya's first President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who ruled from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978. The county later produced his son, Uhuru Kenyatta, the country's fourth President, who served between 2013 and 2022.

Nyeri, meanwhile, produced Mwai Kibaki, who served as Kenya's third President from 2002 to 2013 after previously serving as Vice President.

It is this history that Mt Kenya East leaders are now invoking as they make the case that the political pendulum should move eastwards.

At a grassroots leaders' meeting at Kinoru Stadium in Meru on August 22, leaders repeatedly told their western counterparts that the time had come to support one of their own.

Water Cabinet Secretary Eric Mugaa said Mt Kenya East had stood with the West for more than six decades and should now receive reciprocal support.

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Rigathi Gachagua and Kithure Kindiki — Rigathi Gachagua (left) with Kithure Kindiki in Kanjuiri, Nyandarua County, on April 03, 2022.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

“As the people of Mount Kenya East, we have stood with our brothers for more than 60 years. Now, they should return the favour,” Mr Mugaa said.

He said the elevation of Prof Kindiki had presented the region with an opportunity to occupy the second-highest office in government and potentially make a claim on the presidency.

“We have stood with Mount Kenya West for so many years. We, the people of Mount Kenya East, shall stand for our own like the others. We shall walk this journey step by step and remind them that the time has come for us to stand with our own,” he said.

Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire gave the argument a historical dimension, recalling the region's support for Presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We supported President Jomo Kenyatta for 15 years; we supported President Mwai Kibaki for 10 years; and we supported President Uhuru Kenyatta for 10 years. We did not abuse them,” she said.

Ms Mbarire specifically invoked the role of Tharaka Nithi in Kibaki's re-election, arguing that the county's support had contributed to his second-term victory.

She said Mt Kenya East had remained loyal even when its own political interests were not directly represented at the top of government.

Now, she said, the East wanted its own son to be given an opportunity to rise to the presidency.

“This time round, we want them to support our son, Kithure Kindiki,” Ms Mbarire said.

The governor's remarks reflect an increasingly common narrative among eastern Mt Kenya politicians: that the region has played the role of political kingmaker for western leaders without receiving a similar opportunity to produce the community's presidential standard-bearer.

The argument has gained additional momentum following the dramatic change in the Deputy President's office.

In 2022, Prof Kindiki was President Ruto's preferred choice for Deputy President before the position ultimately went to Mr Gachagua, who came from Nyeri in Mt Kenya West.

Following Mr Gachagua's impeachment in October 2024, President Ruto appointed Prof Kindiki to the position.

The change transformed the political calculations within the mountain.

For the first time, Mt Kenya East had one of its own occupying the office of Deputy President.

Governor Isaac Mutuma of Meru described the development as a historic moment for the eastern side of the mountain.

“Today, Mount Kenya East has given birth to our firstborn as the people of Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Embu,” he said.

He questioned why the region should be expected to support leaders from the West when its own son had now risen to one of the country's most powerful offices.

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Kithure Kindiki and Rigathi Gachagua — Deputy President Kithure Kindiki (right) and DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua.

Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group

“Why is it that when Rigathi Gachagua was the Deputy President, we stood with them, voted for President William Ruto, and supported them as one mountain, but when our firstborn, Kindiki, takes the position, there is a problem?” Mr Mutuma asked.

He warned that the East would not allow what he described as attempts to undermine Prof Kindiki.

“We are not children of a stepmother. Kindiki is from Mount Kenya,” he said.

The rhetoric underscores the growing effort to frame the Kindiki succession project not merely as an individual political ambition but as a collective Mt Kenya East cause.

Governor Muthomi Njuki of Tharaka Nithi also sought to remind the region that Prof Kindiki had initially been selected for the Deputy President's position before Mr Gachagua eventually took it.

He argued that President Ruto's decision to return the seat to Mt Kenya after Mr Gachagua's removal should be interpreted as an endorsement of the mountain as a whole rather than of one particular faction.

“The President of Kenya at that time had the opportunity to choose a Deputy President from any region across Kenya,” Mr Njuki said.

“He therefore returned the seat to its rightful owner, our son Professor Kithure Kindiki, and gave that seat to Mount Kenya as a whole.”

The governor said the next task was to persuade Mt Kenya West to support the arrangement through the 2027 election.

“We should go to the West, to our brothers and sisters, and tell them that we are together and that we should support our son,” he said.

He added: “We should remain number two for a period of four years and then make him number one to complete his second term as President in 2032.”

Prof Kindiki himself has repeatedly advanced the argument that the clearest route for Mt Kenya to regain the presidency is through the Ruto administration rather than through the opposition.

Council of Governors Health Committee Chair Muthomi Njuki — THaraka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki at a past event.

Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group

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At Kinoru, he concentrated largely on defending the government's record and warning the grassroots against opposition leaders whom he accused of offering no alternative beyond criticism.

He argued that development required continuity and warned against changing government policies every five years.

“The biggest threat to developing countries and Africa is policy disruption, where every new administration reverses the gains it has found so that it can appear important,” Prof Kindiki said.

His political message was therefore closely tied to the broader case for continuity beyond 2027.

The Deputy President cited what he described as government achievements in agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure and the economy, urging grassroots leaders to communicate these gains to voters.

He cited reductions in the price of fertiliser and sexed semen, higher coffee and milk prices, recruitment of teachers, construction of classrooms and laboratories, expansion of technical training and the deployment of community health promoters.

He also defended the Social Health Authority, saying that the government had expanded health coverage to millions of Kenyans and that community health promoters were central to the programme.

His remarks were also an attack on the opposition camp associated with Mr Gachagua, which he accused of seeking to dismantle government programmes.

“If you see a leader who is trying to bring chaos to our Republic of Kenya, he is a foolish person,” Prof Kindiki said.

He further dismissed the politics of nicknames and personality-driven campaigns, warning his political rivals that their time in politics was running out.

But behind the development message is a more consequential political calculation.

For Mt Kenya East, the 2027 election offers an opportunity to transform the Deputy President's position into a long-term succession arrangement.

The region's leaders believe that supporting President Ruto and retaining Prof Kindiki as his deputy would offer them a realistic route back to the presidency in 2032.

Also Read: Gachagua exploits Ol Kalou victory, rallies Mt Kenya against Ruto

Meru Senator Kathuri Murungi.

Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group

This is also why they have increasingly contrasted the political fortunes of the government side with those of the opposition.

Senator Kathuri Murungi of Meru urged residents not to look outside the region for political leadership.

“Do not look for another army to put you and President William Ruto in power in 2032. These people of Mt Kenya East are enough,” he said.

The message is also aimed squarely at Mt Kenya West, where the political mood remains unsettled following the bitter fallout between Dr Ruto and Mr Gachagua.

The East's argument is that the region's numerical strength should translate into political influence, rather than leave Mt Kenya occupying a subordinate position in an opposition coalition.

Prof Kindiki has accused the opposition leadership associated with Mr Gachagua of effectively relegating Mt Kenya to what he describes as “position 20” in the hierarchy despite the region's electoral strength.

The reference is a sharp political jab at an opposition alliance that the East leaders believe cannot offer Mt Kenya a clear succession pathway.

By contrast, they argue, the Ruto-Kindiki arrangement offers a defined political ladder: support dr Ruto in 2027, retain Prof Kindiki as Deputy President and then pursue the presidency in 2032.

Whether Mt Kenya West will embrace that proposal, however, remains the central question.

The western counties — Kiambu, Nyeri, Murang'a, Nyandarua and Kirinyaga — have their own political interests and leaders, while Mr Gachagua remains a major figure in the region's opposition politics.

The appeal to history, analysts say, is therefore being used as a political bargaining tool.

“The East is effectively telling the West that the mountain's political fortunes have never been a one-sided affair and that the time has come for a new generation of leaders from Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi to take their turn,” argues Dismas Mokua, a political pundit.

Mr Mutuma said: “We want the way the mountain has been united since the era of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to continue.”

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jjochieng@ke.nationmedia.com