Wiper Party Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, flanked by Jubilee Party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni and other Azimio leaders address journalists at SKM Command Centre in Nairobi Karen on July 25, 2024.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka is positioning himself to inherit President William Ruto’s 2022 Mt Kenya vote bloc following his falling out with his deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
Mr Gachagua, who is currently fighting his removal in court, could be barred from holding public office should the Judiciary uphold his ouster.
Political realignments have already started, with Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party whose key members were named to the Cabinet in July, voting with the President’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) to impeach Mr Gachagua in Parliament.
Mr Musyoka’s Wiper lieutenants were whipped to back Mr Gachagua during the ouster motion. Mr Musyoka and his Azimio la Umoja One Kenya counterparts—DAP-K leader Eugene Wamalwa and Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni—have stood with Mr Gachagua.
Speaking at Africa Inland Church Kasina in Mwingi Township in Kitui County in the presence of Mr Musyoka on Sunday, Mr Kioni said Kenyans, and especially voters in Mt Kenya, were disillusioned and would not make a further mistake by electing “an uncaring and insensitive President as they were hoodwinked in 2022 elections.”
Working arrangement
He added that following Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga’s working arrangement, it is Mr Musyoka who has stood with Mr Gachagua and is “determined to salvage Mt Kenya from political segregation and bias”.
“Let it go on record that Mt Kenya region is watching the unfolding political exclusion by Kenya Kwanza ... in the countdown to 2027 elections and beyond. We tell Ruto and his henchmen we are keenly watching pensively,” said Mr Kioni.
Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu echoed Mr Kioni’s assertion that political deliverance for Mt Kenya region will come from Mr Musyoka.
The voting patterns in the National Assembly during Mr Gachagua’s ouster motion indicate possible political shifts going into the 2027 elections.
UDA counterparts
ODM MPs, for example, voted with their UDA counterparts to remove Mr Gachagua from office, revealing the possibility of further collaboration. In July after ODM members were co-opted into government, Dr Oburu Oginga, Mr Odinga’s elder brother, hinted at a possible working arrangement with the President.
Both the National Assembly Majority and Minority leaders, Kimani Ichung’wah and Junet Mohamed, respectively, and Aaron Cheruiyot and Steward Madzayo for the Senate, passionately supported Mr Gachagua’s removal.
It was also clear that Mr Odinga’s Azimio, on whose ticket he contested the 2022 presidential election, was divided, after majority of Wiper MPs voted in favour of the embattled DP.
Political activist Tony Gachoka argued that there’s a higher possibility of Mr Musyoka’s Ukambani political bastion striking a 2027 deal with Mr Gachagua’s Mt Kenya.
“It is evident that President Ruto is behind the tribulations facing his deputy and Kalonzo has come in handy to provide Mt Kenya a shoulder to lean on; this will not be in vain. We foresee a possible alliance between Ukambani and the mountain,” Mr Gachoka said.
President Ruto’s onslaught against his deputy has unsettled the Mt Kenya region, which voted for him almost to a man in the last election. The President is therefore targeting Mr Odinga’s vote bloc—Nyanza, Western and Coast—with Cabinet appointments.
He is also not leaving anything to chance and is working round the clock to secure a portion of Mt Kenya region. He has already picked Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, who is from Mt Kenya East, to replace Mr Gachagua.
Political analyst Javas Bigambo said that “recapturing the support of Mt Kenya for President Ruto is not necessarily a foreclosed matter”.
“It will require possibly picking another leader from the Kikuyu nation to replace Rigathi Gachagua, one who can counter Gachagua’s bile-induced politics and agility. If not, he will need strategies to divide the Kikuyu vote,” Mr Bigambo said.
