From Honest man to Lonely man: Mt Kenya politicians back CS Kindiki over DP Gachagua

The past week has seen 69 legislators from the Mt Kenya region declare Interior CS Kithure Kindiki as their defacto kingpin of the Central region.

On September 9, some 21 MPs from the Mt Kenya East region endorsed Kindiki as their link between Mt Kenya and the government.

This involved leaders from Tigania, Mbeere, Igembe South, Tharaka, Meru and Embu who argued that their decision would secure more developments for the region. 

Barely three days later, 48 MPs from the Mt Kenya region followed suit and picked Kindiki, in what they termed the 'Nyandarua declaration.'

The legislators defended their move, saying that the absence of a centralised leader hindered the region's development.

"On this basis, we meet to restate our commitment to the unity and development agenda of all the people of Mt Kenya region and those in the diaspora, even as we advance the collective agenda of the Kenyan nation," the MPs said in a statement. 

"Accordingly, we are convinced beyond doubt that the unity of this region must be pursued in the context of unity of the nation as a whole," they added. 

The MPs' decision to sideline Gachagua for Kindiki is viewed as a defiant move that undermines the Second in Command who has been on a clarion call to unite the region.

The move has also reignited a long duel between Gachagua and Kindiki over the region's politics.

The battle lines were drawn during the 2022 campaign season as then DP William Ruto (now president) was faced with a tough task to choose between Gachagua and Kindiki to be his running mate.

In a stalemate that lasted over 17 hours, President Ruto selected Gachagua despite the majority of UDA politicians favouring Kindiki.

At the time, Ruto defended his move, saying that a myriad of factors led him to select Gachagua. 

"There were so many other instruments that we were using... that I was using to arrive at... I looked at many things, I looked at what was required of a deputy president," he said during a media interview in June 2022. 

"There were some who were favoured by gender, there were some who were favoured by opinion polls.. when I met groups, this group favoured this person while another one favoured another person. In the end, we all settled as a team on Gachagua," he added. 

Following UDA's victory in the presidential elections, Gachagua pegged himself as the defacto kingpin of the Central region, apparently taking over the mantle from former president Uhuru Kenyatta. 

On the other hand, Kindiki assumed the role of Interior CS, an integral docket that maintains internal security and also coordinates the government's functions.

The CS has not publicly declared himself the Mt Kenya Kingpin despite receiving numerous endorsements including recently from over 60 Mt Kenya MPs. 

The duel was also revived during the discussion of the "One man, One vote, One shilling" mantra in mid-2024.

DP Gachagua was a proponent of the slogan, noting that regions with a higher population should be allocated more resources.

The remarks, however, elicited a lot of backlash from critics who accused him of sidelining regions with less population.

CS Kindiki, also criticised the policy, saying that such slogans brought about divisive politics and failed to unite the nation.

"The cliché is neither a scientific principle nor is it an economic model of any kind. It is a mantra picked from casual banter and will fall flat when juxtaposed with the constitutional ideals and values upon which our nation is founded," Kindiki said in a statement on X in June 2024. 

"Every part of Kenya is entitled to prosperity not alone or at the expense of any other part of Kenya but rather, as part of the whole," he added. 

The long rivalry pegged between the two leaders points to a significant move for President Ruto's camp ahead of the 2027 elections. 

The president, who is on a trip to Germany, will have the same daunting task of uniting his party amid the simmering cracks.