By Anderson Ojwang
President William Ruto will have to finally come to the harsh reality that Mt Kenya has rebelled and walked away from him.
The vote for Ruto’s presidential quest in the 2022 general elections was not out of love but lack of an alternative, as on the other side of the coin was the community’s black sheep, the late Raila Amolo Odinga.
The Odingas – the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Raila – spent decades in a wild chase of Mt Kenya votes after they supported the community to arrive at the presidency.
At independence, Jaramogi declined to lead Kenya to independence and instead vouched for the release of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta to lead the country to independence.
In a fallout between Kenyatta and Oginga, the former led the community into oath-taking against the latter, never to allow leadership to go to the lake region.
Raila in 2002 returned the leadership to Mt Kenya after he supported the election of the late Mwai Kibaki to be the third president.
Ruto in the trenches
President Ruto finds himself in the same situation the Odingas have been in for decades, and the Ol Kalou by-election is just the tip of the iceberg of what awaits him in the 2027 presidential election.
In Ruto’s administration, Mt Kenya occupies the majority of the positions, with seven Cabinet Secretaries, including Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, and 15 Principal Secretaries.
While Ruto’s Kalenjin community has only three Cabinet Secretaries and 11 Principal Secretaries.
At the Ol Kalou by-election, President Ruto, through his representatives in Mt Kenya, delivered goods but failed to sway the electorate to vote for the UDA candidate, losing and managing only 13 percent of the votes cast.
Democracy and development won
According to former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, the Ol Kalou by-election was a situation where democracy and development won.
Kuria telephoned the DCP candidate and the winner, Kamau Ngotho, to congratulate him for the victory.
“This morning I have called MP Elect Hon Kamau Ngotho to congratulate him for his resounding victory. The people of Ol Kalou have spoken, and it is clear that Hon Ngotho has the overwhelming support of the people of Ol Kalou,” he wrote on his social media platforms.
Kuria, who was also in charge of coordinating development in Ol Kalou, assured the MP-elect that the projects would be implemented in full.
“As the person who was coordinating development projects in Ol Kalou on behalf of the government, I have assured Hon Ngotho that NONE of the projects will stop,” he wrote.
The projects included the construction of Nyandarua University, tarmacking of Ithagani-Nyaituga-Ngorika-Kanyiriti, and tarmacking of Lake Olbolosat access road.
Others are the Nairobi-Gilgil-Ol Kalou-Nyahururu railway line, all 36 electrification projects will be completed including metering for those already connected, Central Rift Water Works Agency and Ol Kalou Water Company will continue connecting homes to water sources using the pipes provided, and the 20,000 LPG gas cylinders will be refilled at retail shops in Ol Kalou to be designated by the National Oil Company of Kenya.
The projects included the 100,000 avocado seedlings, Ol Kalou dairy and the beneficiaries of the NYOTA programme, 1,000 hectares of land that has started benefiting from irrigation at Gwa Kiongo Dam, and the Blue Economy projects in Gwa Kiongo, Githunguri and Lake Ol Bolosat, including the now famous fishing boats.
The Land Registry in Ol Kalou, the issuance of title deeds to colonial villages including Moa Farm and the attendant succession will continue. The Mashujaa Wing in JM Kariuki Hospital will be completed, and Ol Kalou Stadium, which is underway, will be completed.
Other projects include all the affordable housing projects, including the NHC project and the hostels at Rurii TVET, which will be completed; all markets under modernisation, including Ol Kalou retail market, Ol Kalou wholesale market and Mirangine modern markets, will be completed and handed over to the owners; the 5 ward-based Digital Hubs will remain operational; the Smartboards and laptop teaching, and all the youths employed on the Climate Work programme will continue until the end of their contractual period.
“In a nutshell, both democracy and development will win because elections are not a matter of life and death,” he wrote.
Accept and move on
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi acknowledged the loss of Mt Kenya votes but expressed optimism that Ruto could replace them from other regions and vote blocks, saying the loss will have no effect on the presidential election.
“Let’s all calm down and stop making wild proclamations like Gachagua, who just said he will mobilise Molima’s 7M votes against Ruto in 2027. 7 Million!? From where? Last time I checked, Molima’s TOTAL votes cast in 2022 (for both Raila and Ruto) was 3.8 million… I have included ALL the votes in cosmopolitan counties like Nakuru, Laikipia and Kiambu, to counterbalance the Nairobi votes (which are give or take 500k votes cast – 67% of the approximate 800k Nairobi Molima voters). Post-2022, IEBC has registered about 527,000 new voters in Molima counties. So, long arithmetic simplified, there is no universe where Gachagua gives anyone above 4M votes, even assuming they vote 100% for his preferred presidential ticket. Maths don’t lie, Wamunyoros do. PS: One of the tricks Wamunyoros normally use to shore up their numbers and create an artificial ‘tuko wengi’ perception is they usually compare their REGISTERED votes total against other regions’ votes CAST. It is not uncommon to hear them say ‘Sisi tuko na kura million saba, na nyinyi hamna kura, mlipigia Raila kura blah blah.’ That trick won’t work anymore… We now compare Registered vs Registered, and Cast vs Cast… WAOL,” he wrote.
Crack the whip
For President Ruto, he will have to make a painful decision: either to crack the whip and give some of the positions to a new bride, or continue to be in a wild goose chase for Mt Kenya votes.
