Three months ago, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro was perpetually in the air as the face of the opposition movement against Vice President Ligaty Gachagua, attending one meeting after another as guest of honour at the call of his fellow MPs.
He has attended many church fundraising events on behalf of President William Ruto and donated large amounts of cash ranging from Sh1 million to Sh3 million. Many MPs around him call him the sixth generation while others from Murang’a say Kiambu and Nyeri have fooled them for too long, saying both counties have produced prime ministers and presidents and that Gachagua is now the vice president.
While Nyoro never directly attacked the deputy president, leaders who have consistently aligned themselves with him have argued that 2027 will be “Mhlang’a’s year”, while others have pushed the “generation card” to present Nyoro as the leader best suited to succeed Gachagua.
In January this year, Murang’a senator Joe Nyutu said it was time for Murang’a to be recognised in national politics and that voters would congratulate him if he chose Nyoro as his running mate in the 2027 elections, rather than “Gachagua” who runs a divisive platform.
“Mount Kenya cannot be left in the hands of condescending leaders who belittle their leadership in the eyes of those at the top,” Nyutu argued.
“Nyoro is a national leader and is the right person to represent the country as number two,” said Muranga women’s representative, Betty Maina.
Meanwhile, Gatanga MP Edward Muriu said: “Mhlanga women have also produced leaders and Nyoro is fully qualified to replace Ruto as leader.”
But that was a thing of the past. Nyoro has been on the route for the past few weeks. Allies They are currently favouring internal affairs coordinator Kitule Kindiki to replace Gachagua. A faction of Mt Kenya leaders have backed Kindiki, and the local council of elders, Ntuli Ntcheke, has also selected him as spokesman.
The MPs who spoke for Nyoro are also now in different camps: Nyutu and Muriu, once Nyoro’s fiercest critics, are now his spokespersons, while Maina, who was one of Nyoro’s biggest supporters, is in Kindiki’s camp.
In Murang’a county, where Nyoro is from, most of the councillors who had been critical of Gachagua have switched sides to support him, including Nyotu, Muriu, Peter Kihungi (Kangema), Mary Waitira (Maragua) and Kamau Munyoro (Kigumo). The county has seven constituencies.
The paradigm shift from Nyoro to Kindiki was witnessed following protests largely driven by Generation Z. While sources claim that the Gen Z card was played to get Nyoro to change his anti-Gachagua movement, others claim that the Gen Z demonstrations coincided with the truce between the President and Vice President, calling on the young lawmakers to bring order.
“They had been warned to tread carefully with Gachagua but their friendship had soured after the protests and Nyoro has now rejoined politics with Kindiki as he did not want to tarnish his name in the political quagmire,” said the MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nyoro has avoided public discussion on current affairs and has also avoided commenting on the impeachment controversy against Gachagua. When he visits his constituency, he only speaks about his constituency’s development plans. He no longer travels around the country to raise funds. Ruto leaders insist that Nyoro is still on their side and supports the impeachment motion against Gachagua, but he avoided our calls on the matter.
However, Gachagua leaders claim that Nyoro’s tactical move was a strategy they adopted after they realised that the President was playing with the people of the Mt Kenya region by playing the divide and rule card.
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Githunguri MP Gasoni Wamuchomba said Nyoro being well educated must have learnt from history how those in power used Kiambu leaders against him until his son Josephato Njuguna Karanja was impeached in 1989 in an onslaught led by the then Embakasi MP David Mwenje and the then Limuru MP Kuria Kaningi.
“He is a schoolboy like me. I’m sure he knew that Mr Ruto was being used to help divide the Mt Kenya region for political convenience,” she said.
She added, “The card to get Nyoro also failed badly, so they tried to pick Kindiki but that will also fail. They cannot play with the minds of the voters in the Mt Kenya region. The more they fight Gachagua, the more momentum they will have in consolidating his base.”
Meanwhile, lawyer Wahome Gikonyo said the tactic was first deployed in 1992 and “used to subjugate perhaps one of the most formidable political camps in the country, the Mt Kenya region. And the plan will collapse like a shaky house of cards.”
“The dynamics of the 2022 elections will help us better predict why the mountain’s latest divide and rule plan will collapse and why Mt Kenya’s leaders will need to change tactics if they want to survive politically,” the lawyer said.
