Kabogo Takes On Gachagua as Mt Kenya Politics Enter a New Phase

By Kepher Otieno - Reporter

Kenya, 18 January 2026 - ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo’s weekend onslaught against former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is more than a personal political spat.

It reflects the deepening contest over the political soul of the Mt Kenya region as succession politics begin to take shape ahead of the next electoral cycle.

Speaking on Saturday at Kianwe Primary School in Ndia, Kirinyaga West, Kabogo positioned himself firmly as a defender of President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration and, by extension, a counterweight to Gachagua’s growing influence in the mountain. His message was blunt: Mt Kenya is already benefiting from Ruto’s presidency, and any attempt to destabilise that arrangement risks reversing tangible gains.

Kabogo framed Gachagua as a politician driven less by policy alternatives and more by grievance, accusing him of promoting what he termed “politics of revenge” following his fallout with the Kenya Kwanza leadership.

By dismissing Gachagua’s “one-term” narrative as reckless and empty, Kabogo sought to delegitimise an emerging campaign that aims to portray Ruto as having lost the confidence of a region that overwhelmingly supported him in 2022.

At the heart of Kabogo’s argument was development. He pointed to flagship projects such as the Nairobi–Thika expressway expansion and the affordable housing programme, presenting them as evidence that Mt Kenya remains central to the government’s economic agenda. In doing so, Kabogo echoed a long-standing political logic in the region: that proximity to power and unity of purpose translate into material benefits.

His anecdote about a woman rescued from rent distress through the affordable housing programme was carefully chosen. It humanised government policy and sought to contrast Kenya Kwanza’s social interventions with what Kabogo implied was Gachagua’s politics of confrontation. The message was clear—policy continuity, not political protest, delivers results.

Kabogo’s rhetoric also revealed anxiety within the Ruto camp about the potential fragmentation of Mt Kenya’s vote.

By warning residents against “abandoning a working government for political emotions,” he appealed to the region’s traditionally pragmatic voting behaviour, which prioritises stability and economic opportunity over ideological battles.

The Cabinet Secretary’s call for unity was reinforced by Irrigation CS Eric Mugaa, whose remarks underscored a growing concern within government ranks that internal divisions could weaken Mt Kenya’s bargaining power at the national level.

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Mugaa’s assertion that a united mountain commands influence, while a divided one becomes “weak and irrelevant,” was a thinly veiled caution against the splintering of regional leadership into rival camps.

These remarks gain added significance against the backdrop of recent comments by another Mt Kenya East Cabinet Secretary, CS Ruku, who floated the idea of splitting the region into Mt Kenya East and West.

While framed by some as an administrative or political reorganisation, the proposal has exposed simmering tensions and rival ambitions within the mountain.

By addressing residents in the Meru language and rejecting regional and linguistic fault lines, Mugaa sought to reclaim the narrative of a single, cohesive Mt Kenya bloc. His intervention can be read as an attempt to arrest centrifugal forces that could dilute the region’s collective leverage just as national political alignments begin to shift.

Taken together, Kabogo’s and Mugaa’s statements signal a coordinated push by pro-Ruto leaders to consolidate Mt Kenya behind the Kenya Kwanza government and blunt the rise of dissenting voices led by Gachagua.

The debate is no longer merely about personalities, but about strategy: whether the region should renegotiate its place in national politics through confrontation or safeguard its interests by staying close to the centre of power.

As Mt Kenya leaders reposition themselves ahead of future contests, the unity-versus-division argument is likely to dominate political discourse.

Kabogo’s attack on Gachagua, therefore, marks an early but significant chapter in a broader struggle over who speaks for the mountain—and on what terms.