President William Ruto does not need the help of any person or politician to woo voters of Mt Kenya region in the run-up to the 2027 General Election, this is according to Mbeere North MP Leo Wamuthende.

The recently-elected legislator says that President Ruto was clever and astute enough to form direct relationship with the people of Mt Kenya — based on his citizen-centry bottom-up manifesto — during the succesful 2022 Presidential Campaigns.

“As a region, we decided to vote overwhelmingly for President Ruto during the 2022 General Election. Someone says he has a hold of the mountain, yet he was made by President Ruto,” MP Wamuthende said in an interview with TV47 on Monday, January 19, in what was a direct barb to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

Gachagua, since his impeachment in October 2024, has been in a charm offensive across the country, with a keener attention to Mt Kenya region, vowing to lead an opposition outfit that will unseat President Ruto in 2027.

But while Gachagua insists that the first in command has lost ground in the vote-rich region because of his rogue government policies and orchestrating his impeachment, MP Wamuthende says nothing could be further from the truth.

“We come from the mountain, I was recently voted there, and I can tell you, when people talk of a slippery mountain that is just perception. I can tell you, if you go to Nyeri Town today and say ‘two-term’, you will be greated with ‘two-term and mbwegze!'”

‘Gachagua hurting after ouster’

Wamuthende insists that Gachagua has been feeding Kenyans with lies, propaganda and political innuendos against President Ruto out of spite after his impeachment. It is these “vices”, Wamuthende posits, that President Ruto has gradually but surely started to prove that Gachagua was unfit to hold the Office of the Deputy President.

“When Gachagua was impeached, he became so emotional, you remember he even admitted himself to a hospital, came out almost crying. And you know Mt Kenya people are sympathetic to people, we listen to people, and he came out as he has been victimised.

“So that is the narrative he has been riding on for the last one and half years. Of course some people took that narrative to be true, but we have been talking to people and explaining to them that this guy actually fired himself, he had no government agenda, and he did dispeakable things.”

Ruto on Mt Kenya charm offensive

President Ruto, in recent weeks, has launched an aggressive campaign in a bid to reclaim Mt Kenya support ahead of next year’s elections, opting to anchor this renewed push on development delivery, inclusivity and grassroot mobilisation.

The political push culminated in President Ruto hosting more than 17,000 grassroot leaders — a majority being the newly-elected United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party officials — at the Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri, Gachagua’s hometown.

During this meeting, President Ruto pledged to complete stalled projects from his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, while expanding those initiated by his administration.

It is during this period that President Ruto announced increased funding of key infrastructure in Mt. Kenya region. For instance, an additional KSh2 billion to expand the Mau Mau Roads for a further 500km, and KSh1 billion for the upgrade of the Nyeri County Referral Hospital.