When President William Ruto became Kenya’s fifth President, he was the darling of the Mt. Kenya people, an amalgamation that would be shortlived.
This political dalliance began in 2013 following a political deal with former President Uhuru Kenyatta. Once political adversaries, the two were united by the charges they were facing at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Uhuru, eyeing the presidency made Ruto the Robin to his Batman, endearing him to the Mt. Kenya region people. Ever the political genius, Ruto took advantage of this adoration and went to work to ensure the good people from the mountain loved him for him and just because he was with Uhuru.
However, cracks emerged after a handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga was brokered in 2018.
Ruto swiftly capitalised on the fallout and dethroned Uhuru Kenyatta as the heir apparent of Mt. Kenya. He embarked on a charm offensive, fundraising in schools and churches.
He loved the locals and the locals loved him back. He frequently greeted them in the Kikuyu dialect “Mwathani agocwo and Ngai ni mwega.” (Praise God, and God is good.)
The bond culminated in Ruto’s decisive victory over Raila, Uhuru’s preferred Presidential candidate in the 2022 polls. The election also saw Ruto allies sweep key elective seats, including ward representatives, and parliamentary, senatorial and gubernatorial seats.
With this victory, Ruto declared himself as the political supremo of Mt. Kenya. He installed himself as the defacto kingpin of the vote-rich region. He referred to Uhuru and Raila as outsiders.
“There are those who have now realized that there is a mountain somewhere. They have resorted to using Google Maps to locate it. I want to tell them that the mountain has its owner,” Ruto said in the runup to the 2022 General Election.
Ruto’s foray into Mt. Kenya did not stop after being sworn in. He spiritedly toured every corner of the region for thanksgiving ceremonies and prayer rallies, thanking residents for their unwavering support and vowing to walk with them.
“Mt Kenya people, you have made our country proud. You have broken barriers of ethnicity by voting for us in the general elections. This election broke the cycle of ethnicity witnessed in previous elections,” he once said during a thanksgiving service at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri.
“I want to say in a very special way, the people of Mt. Kenya did something unimaginable and unexpected. That we have put our nation on a new trajectory and Kenya will never be the same again.”
Ruto’s political honeymoon was however short-lived when he introduced the unpopular Finance Bill of 2024 that sought to introduce unsavoury taxes in various sectors of the economy.
The Bill triggered nationwide protests fronted by youthful Kenyans, also known as the Gen-Z.
Facing mounting pressure from young Kenyans, William Ruto was forced to dismiss his entire Cabinet save for Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
He then, like two presidents before him – Moi and Uhuru – turned to his political nemesis Raila Odinga for political buttress which paved the way for a ‘broad-based government as Ruto appointed Raila’s men Hassan Joho, Wycliffe Oparanya, John Mbadi and Opiyo Wandayi to his Cabinet.
The pact, however, failed to cure division in government as the relationship between President Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua soured.
The duo who braved state intimidation and threats to ascent to power were now not seeing eye to eye, leading to Gachagua’s impeachment on October 9, 2024.
Ruto accused Gachagua of undermining him, dividing the country along tribal lines and fomenting chaos in government.
“I have become a lonely voice in the presidency, speaking about our projects and programmes. My brother Kindiki, you are eloquent and intelligent. I am confident that you will do that which I have missed for the last two years,” President Ruto said on November 1, 2024, during the swearing-in of Kithure Kindiki as the third deputy president.
The result of Gachagua’s impeachment was swift and somehow killed any embers of love that he had left in the region.
Largely unpopular countrywide because of his high taxation and lack of notable development, Ruto still thought the Murima (mountain) people still had the same love they had for him when they voted for him overwhelmingly.
Any denial he had about his relationship with the Murima people was crushed on November 16, 2024, when he received a hostile reception in Embu during the consecration and installation of Bishop Peter Kimani Ndung’u at the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Mukangu.
Embu County became the political bellwether county of other Mt. Kenya counties as any hostility would have been expected from Nyeri, Gachagua’s backyard.
But here was Embu, a largely docile political ground that loudly expressed raw rage and emotions showing how the entire area felt.
On November 24, 2024, mourners rejected a condolence message from DP Kindiki during the funeral service of nominated ward representative Mark Gicheru Wainaina in Murang’a County.
This denied Governor Irungu Kang’ata the chance to read Ruto’s condolence message and instead delivered it privately to the grieving family to avoid heckling from the furious mourners.
Ruto suffered a similar fate in absentia on January 3, 2025, during the burial of Eric Mutugi, son of former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti, when mourners shouted down Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi as he prepared to read Ruto’s condolence message.
Amid rejection and political onslaught from Gachagua, Ruto ceased ‘facing the Mountain’ and instead turned to Nyanza for a political lifeline.
A political bunker persona-non-grata
The grass seemed greener as on November 26, 2024, he received a heroic welcome in Kondele, Kisumu County, a region that overwhelmingly opposed him in 2022.
The same enthusiasm greeted him in Homa Bay, Siaya, Migori and Kisii. In just one month, Ruto visited Homa Bay twice, signalling a new political alliance.
Ruto’s move showed how Nyanza is a bedrock of insurance politics for besieged Kenyan presidents. President Ruto has since abandoned his long-mastered “Mwathani agocwo and Ngai ni mwega,” Kikuyu greeting and replaced it with “Jo thurwa umor and Jo thurwa untie?”
Ruto’s turn to Nyanza follows a pattern among besieged Kenyan presidents.
The Nyanza region has seemingly become the political bunker for Kenyan presidents who have experienced a slippery climb of the mountain.
When President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga made a surprising appearance on the steps of Harambee House for a public handshake after weeks of deadly protests spearheaded by Raila, Uhuru knew the backlash that awaited him from the Mt. Kenya resident.
Abandoned by his Mt. Kenya people, Uhuru sought political refuge in Odinga’s Nyanza backyard and on October 22, 2020, he received a heroic welcome from Kisumu residents, a welcome that provided him with a political lifeline against internal rebellion. This granted him a smoother second term.
In 1993, the late President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi signed a political pact with opposition chief Jaramogi Oginga Odinga after narrowly winning the 1992 election with 36% of the vote.
The pact saw KANU and FORD-Kenya enter into political cooperation and Moi found solace in Oginga’s Nyanza backyard, enabling the Head of State to attend Jaramogi’s burial in 1994 despite opposition from student leaders and a section of Nyanza residents.
After the 1997 polls, Raila’s National Development Party and Moi’s KANU finalized a political deal that saw Raila appointed energy minister in 2001.
This deal cemented Moi’s reign after winning an election with just over 30% of the total votes. The deal endeared Moi to the Nyanza people.
By Fredrick Ooko
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