Mt Kenya Likely to Back Ruto in 2027, Former Nyeri MP Predicts

Former Nyeri Town Member of Parliament (MP) Ngunjiri Wambugu has expressed faith in the re-election of President William Ruto come 2027.

He has maintained that this newfound understanding was born of the results of the November 2025 by-elections, especially the highly contested Mbeere North, where Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) won.

“There was a lot of fearmongering before the Mbeere North by-elections about where Mt. Kenya is and the fact that the region has completely taken off. It was actually being perceived that the region was done with President Ruto,” the former legislator says.

Looking at the results, where UDA’s Leonard Muthende won by a slim margin with 15,802 votes against Newton Karish of the Democratic Party (DP), who got 15,308 votes, Ngunjiri has stated that this sparked a shift in the region’s perception and attitude towards the current regime. 

However, the former MP has stated that President Ruto does not need many votes from the Mt Kenya region, signalling that Ruto stands unbeaten at the moment.

“Ruto does not need very many votes from Mt Kenya at the moment. It is not like in 2022, when the region was what he needed to win. He is the President, and he has a bird’s eye view, with a fragmented opposition on the other side, and Baba (Raila Odinga) is gone. So, literally, Ruto is the only big boy in the block right now,” Ngunjiri says.

Ngunjiri has also touched on former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, stating that the former DP is losing political footing in the region. He has assessed the former DP, saying he has ceased to be a powerful political force in the vote-rich region compared to a year ago.

The former Legislator has also hinted at Mt Kenya being a very “choosy” political influence. He has attributed this to the timing of the former DP’s impeachment, saying that voters in Mt Kenya grew weary of the sympathy game.

This, he has ascribed to the reality that the region was not aligned with the sitting regime long before the impeachment, saying, “Gachagua was not the one who took Mt Kenya out of Government. They have already left. In fact, during the impeachment process, people were saying ‘kufa dereva, kufa makanga’ (die driver, die conductor).”

According to Ngunjiri, the political history of Mt Kenya continues to shape the region's decisions in every electoral cycle. This stems from its profound awareness of matters political. “The homogeneity of Mt Kenya tends to be in its interests. If Ruto looks like he is going to win, Mt Kenya will not agree to vote against him,” Ngunjiri emphasises.

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