The rift in Mount Kenya region

A major rift is emerging in the Mt Kenya region ahead of the 2027 elections as leaders affiliated to different camps trade barbs.

The current wave of rivalry seemed to have been sparked last week after retired President Uhuru Kenyatta declared that he is now fully in charge of Jubilee Party and will be traversing the country to popularise the party.

The faction of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua dismissed the move, calling Uhuru’s Jubilee a ‘wheelbarrow in red’.  

The wheelbarrow is in reference to UDA’s symbol.

Gachagua’s critics warn that attempts to make his DCP the sole party for the Mt Kenya region will flop, while his allies claim there is a plot to attempt to split the mountain to the benefit of UDA and President William Ruto.

The region overwhelmingly voted for Ruto but seems to be drifting away towards opposition as different parties strategise to harvest from the vote-rich basket.

The split is threatening opposition unity with analysts now believing President Ruto will be the ultimate beneficiary, especially if Jubilee fronts Fred Matiang’i against a united opposition bringing together Gachagua, Kalonzo Musoka, Martha Karua, Justin Muturi, Eugene Wamalwa and George Natembeya.

Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni shot back and sought to turn tables against Gachagua by claiming the impeached DP was working for Ruto secretly and that the two had an understanding on how to move forward.

“Gachagua told them that Ruto has already sent emissaries to them and they had an arrangement to put their houses in order and then meet to have a discussion," Kioni alleged on Hot 96.

"If you work with Kasongo and have been sent with a red wheelbarrow. This is not a party that wants good for our party leader and DCP at large,” DCP Deputy Party leader Cleophas Malala said last week.

Political Analyst Prof Herman Manyora claims Jubilee and Matiang'i is a project first of Uhuru and secondly of Ruto and Raila Odinga to neutralise Gachagua’s influence.  

“Matiangi could be Uhuru’s project so that he (Uhuru) can deal with Gachagua. If Uhuru doesn’t deal with him, he will end up entrenching himself as the kingpin of the mountain at the expense of the Kenyatta family and therefore, you must bring in Matiang'i to disrupt Gachagua’s match to the top of Mt Kenya," Manyora claimed.

“Matiang’i is a project for Ruto and Ruto through Uhuru. Therefore, Uhuru will be merging with Ruto and Raila to face the united opposition,” he claimed.

Former Trade Cabinet Secretary and CCK party leader Moses Kuria says DCP is being unmasked in the mountain, and its perceived grip is just a fallacy.

“DCP is a party of aspirants because they want a wave where they can benefit, but the mask is falling off. They have become so predictable, fighting everyone. It’s the beginning of the end of this thing called DCP. Mt Kenya will be a free market,” Kuria notes.

Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba said it’s disheartening to see Mountain people attacking each other for political competition, warning that the entitlement is too much, while adding that before DCP there was Jubilee UDA, DP and others.

“Nobody has the monopoly of the eight million mountain vote. Uhuru is the undisputed Kingpin of the Mountain, and he didn’t force it on us. He unified the country. He’s now at liberty to bless anybody to take over from him, even if it’s not me,” Wamuchomba said.

Former Cabinet minister and Starehe MP Maina Kamanda dismissed Kioni’s sentiments, saying he has no influence in the region and is just trying to be strategic to be named Matiang’i’s running mate.

“He (Kioni) can not even deliver an MCA seat in Ndaragwa. Just like he did in 2013 with Mudavadi, he now wants to create a perception that Jubilee can deliver the Mountain so that he is named as a running mate. He is inconsequential,” Kamanda said.

Lawyer and journalist Wahome Thuku, who is allied to Gachagua, appeared to hint that Kioni is afraid of the influence of the DCP region, hence resorted to branding its leader.

“Let’s forget Riggy G and Ruto for a moment and go back to Ndaragwa Constituency. Kioni, the immediate former MP, will (of course) be running on the Jubilee ticket. A DCP candidate will be on the ballot. I don't know who that will be, so let me put the two questions to Ndaragwa people,” Thuku quipped.

“Gachagua is not threatened by Uhuru’s presence. There is no chance that Jubilee will perform better than it did when Uhuru was President,” Embakasi North MP James Gakuya said.

Former Nyeri Town MP Wambugu Ngunjiri, a one-time ally of Gachagua turned critic, rubbished the idea that Gachagua controls seven million as laughable.

"Mt Kenya voters are not property to be claimed. They make independent choices," he said.

Jubilee party director of elections Kirika Githaiga said Central Kenya has its own unique political identity, adding that any attempt to manufacture what he termed as cult-like following is a 'miscalculation that will end in spectacular failure'.

On his part, former Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi said that instead of leaders focusing on insults, they should be united in the economy of the region, which he said is larger than 38 African countries.

“The economy of the 10 Mt Kenya stands at USD28 billion. The economy is bigger than 37 different African countries. So instead of wasting all that time insulting one another, why can’t we focus on that? How can we leverage that economy to build manufacturing?”  he posed.