‘Recognise Kindiki as spokesman’: Ruku sets Mt Kenya East -West unity condition

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku has demanded that leaders in Mt Kenya West first recognise Deputy President Kithure Kindiki as the region’s spokesman before he withdraws his campaign to split the mountain vote.

On September 12, 2026, while addressing more than 15,000 United Democratic Alliance (UDA) grassroots leaders at Nembure Stadium in Embu County, Prof Kindiki asked Mr Ruku to stop his clamour for a divided mountain and instead pursue unity.

However, Mr Ruku said he was willing to heed Prof Kindiki’s call, but on condition that the western side of the mountain had an obligation to back the DP, citing the East’s support during the reigns of three presidents — Jomo Kenyatta, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta.

To demonstrate his passion for splitting the mountain, Mr Ruku has on several occasions said that even if it means literally splitting the mountain into two using an axe, he is ready to do so.

“What I am asking for is simple. Elders from the West should announce that they recognise Prof Kindiki as the Mt Kenya region spokesman and support for President Ruto. After that, I will put my axe back in the store,” he told Nation in a phone interview on Thursday.

“If that doesn’t happen, then I will be justified to continue with my campaign and ensure the East takes a separate political path,” he added.

Following his impeachment as Deputy President in October 2024, Rigathi Gachagua launched a vigorous campaign against his former boss through his Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) and vowed to make Dr William Ruto a one-term president.

The former DP has effectively turned the tables on President Ruto in a region that overwhelmingly supported him in the 2022 polls, making it an opposition zone.

But the President has vowed to win the region back to his fold, intensifying the battle for the Mt Kenya voting bloc.

The scramble for the mountain has further been complicated by the Orange Democratic Movement’s (ODM) claim on the running mate position in the 2027 presidential election.

ODM’s demand in its negotiations with Dr Ruto for a pre-election pact now threatens Prof Kindiki’s position if he fails to rally the mountain behind Dr Ruto.

With just 11 months to the August 10, 2027, General Election, pundits warn that should Dr Ruto completely lose the mountain, it is likely to threaten his re-election bid.

It is in this context that Mr Ruku has been pushing for a Mt Kenya East breakaway from the West, which comprises Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua and parts of Laikipia, where President Ruto is perceived to face serious opposition.

He claims that by doing so, he will mobilise more than three million votes from Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Meru, which are in the East, in support of Dr Ruto. To that list, he has added Isiolo and parts of Kirinyaga County.

Mr Ruku warned that should the West continue opposing Dr Ruto, he would escalate his “split the mountain” campaign.

“There is no way the West can continue chanting Wantam and cheering a divisive man like Gachagua, yet most of the development projects have been implemented on this side of the mountain,” Mr Ruku told Othaya residents recently during a church service.

The CS’s sentiments have since been supported by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Energy Principal Secretary Alex Wachira and Embu County Assembly Speaker Murithi Thiriku.

While in a recent interview with journalists Mr Kagwe said Mr Ruku had a point and should be listened to, Mr Wachira argued that leaders in Mt Kenya West should remember that the East supported the region during the reigns of three presidents from Mt Kenya West and that Mr Ruku’s demands were valid.

Mr Thiriku said those who were running the “split the mountain” campaign were doing so because of the reluctance by some leaders from Mt Kenya West to support Prof Kindiki.

But even as Mr Ruku talks about splitting the mountain, elders have said the people of the GEMA community, who fought alongside each other in the struggle for independence and are culturally integrated, could never be separated.

The elders have vowed to stop Mr Ruku’s campaigns, saying his drive was escalating tensions in an already restive region.

Mr Kung’u Muigai, the National Council of Elders patron, said the people of the mountain have lived together for decades and that it was difficult to divide them along political lines.

An official of the Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter, said they would work to ensure the mountain was united and spoke in one voice.

“We will soon give direction because we cannot have a region that has always been united due to its historical, social and economic ties, split because of politics,” the official said.

He revealed that all elders from the mountain would soon meet in Kiambu County, where they would make a declaration on the political direction of the Mt Kenya region.

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