Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has laid bare the intrigues that led to the fallout with President William Ruto to eventually designating himself as one of his fiercest critics and potential opponent at the 2027 General Election.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Wednesday night, Nyoro, a former ally and vocal defender of Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza administration, said they differed ideologically, specifically on handling perceived dissent within the administration.
"I went to hundreds of meetings and campaigned for this government and campaigned for William Ruto. We were very close as we were close with all the other leaders, inclduing the Deputy President," he recalled.
Nyoro said his closeness and loyalty to Ruto was equall to that of the then Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who he claimed would occassionally spend time at his home during the period he was going through political upheavals under the Jubilee administration.
"But I believe I'm a good human being who people trust because if you send me anywhere, you can be sure a shilling will not be lost. I have been very loyal to the people I come close to including the President," he said.
"But he was not," he added.
Nyoro said their point of divergence came in 2024 when a section of Mt Kenya government'allied MPs started plotting the ouster of Gachagua through a vote of no confidence and eventual removal from office through impeachment.
A covert meeting was convened at a hotel in Nyahururu, he said, specifically to strategise on how to execute the plot against the DP whose influence in the Mt Kenya region largely conteibuted to Ruto's election victory.
Nyoro said the main agenda of the meeting was to proclaim the then Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki as their bridge to the govenment, not Gachagua.
"And the President called me that evening and told me, 'Hiyo mkutano ni yangu iko huko, nataka uende na uende usome hiyo kitu', now the press statement," Nyoro said.
The MP said he agree to the President's request, but after the call was disconnected, he made a decision not to honour the deal.
"So, they went ahead with the presser but after that, the heavy hammer came around the impeachment time. When the impeachment time came, we were still very close in the government."
Nyoro said his closeness to Gachagua had, however, detororiated by then due to some misunderstandings.
But when the impeachment motion came to the National Assembly, he declined to sign it and the President caugt wind of it.
He said the signing was happening when Ruto was in New York attending the 79th UN General Assembly in the United States.
"So the President was in New York and he was calling people to sign and he realised I had not signed and he called me and I told him 'ukirudi nitakueleza'. And I went to him when he came and told him out of conscience, not political considerations, I will not get involved in the impeachment."
Nyoro said he stayed true to his principle and never even voted during the impeachment nor attended the swearing-in of Kindiki as the new DP after Gachagua's ouster.
He said the final nail on the coffin came when he was kicked out as the chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee after his closeness to the President had waned.
"It was not a sudden event, it was more of a process because even after the impeachment, I continued to be the budget chair but I was no longer in the kirchen. Then I was knocked out of the chairmanship. Later on they ejected me from the committee."
Nyoro said not once was he called by Ruto to be told about any of the impending changes and the reasons behind them.
"Maybe people expected me to go all out to fighting but possibly maybe, I also wanted to get out. There was no reason to fight."
Nyoro dismissed rumours that he was now on talking terms with Ruto and his defection to the People's Party was but of their strategy to divide the mountain's voting bloc and dilute the opposition's challenge against him in 2027.
"The last conversation we ever had anything about politics was the sitting on me not participating in the impeachment. That was the last political conversation we ever had," he said.
