The political temperature around Mt. Kenya has hit boiling point,and the latest battlefield isn’t just social media or county halls… it’s the lush lawns and grand halls of Sagana State Lodge.
President William Ruto rolled into Sagana last weekend with a mega-rally of more than 17,000 UDA grassroots leaders, where he declared his Mt. Kenya friendship unbreakable and pitched Kenya’s future as a broad-based, unity-driven nation. His message? He’s the real kingmaker in the region, not a has-been former deputy.
Ruto even took a swipe at naysayers, warning anyone plotting to divide him from the region’s powerful vote bloc that they’re “day-dreaming.” It was a show of strength, spectacle and stagecraft ,complete with promises of mega-projects, unity messages and talk of turning Kenya into a first-world powerhouse.
But across town and across the political divide, Rigathi Gachagua has been pounding out a different beat. The former deputy president has turned up the heat, claiming that secret deals cooked up at Sagana are behind political hits on rivals, including allegations that a recent demolition of a governor’s business empire was politically ordered after closed-door talks at the same state lodge.
In short, Gachagua’s message to Mt. Kenya voters is clear: Ruto’s love for the region might be more political theatre than genuine loyalty. Even as Ruto packs Sagana with cheering crowds, Gachagua insists the region’s overwhelming support in 2022 shouldn’t be taken for granted,and that loyalty must be earned, not commanded.
Local power players are also feeling the squeeze. At the same Sagana meeting, Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga was put on the spot over where he stands in the 2027 presidential race, a public moment that laid bare cracks in supposed regional unity.
This isn’t a friendly handshake anymore, it’s a scramble for Mt. Kenya’s political soul. With 2027 looming, Ruto is wooing crowds and touting a “bigger cake for everyone,” while Gachagua taps into grass-roots frustration and accuses the presidency of pulling puppet strings from Sagana’s polished corridors.
And with rumour mills turning hot over secret meetings, sabotage claims and political theatre under Sagana’s sprawling roof, Mt. Kenya might just be the political pressure cooker that determines the next big twist in Kenya’s unfolding drama.
