08/09/2026
The emerging political friction between Rigathi Gachagua’s Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) and Ndindi Nyoro’s People’s Party of Kenya (PPK) is increasingly looking less like a disagreement over the 2027 presidential race and more like a battle over who will control Mt Kenya’s local political machinery.
Within the Wantam movement, the political position being advanced is that Mt Kenya has already made up its mind on the presidential question, that William Ruto must be voted out in 2027.
The bigger question, therefore, is what happens to the hundreds of local elective positions that will determine who holds political power in the region after the election.
This is where Ndindi Nyoro’s political strategy appears to have unsettled Gachagua’s camp.
Nyoro has publicly indicated that he is part of the Wantam movement and that he would support whichever single presidential candidate the United Opposition eventually settles on. On the surface, that position should not threaten Gachagua if the primary objective is simply to defeat Ruto.
But the politics becomes more complicated when local seats enter the equation.
The concern attributed to Gachagua’s camp is that Nyoro could attract a stronger pool of experienced, moderate and issue-driven candidates for Governor, Senator, MP and MCA positions. Such candidates could compete directly against politicians seeking the same positions under the DCP ticket.
Nyoro’s emphasis on development, economic issues and relatively sober political messaging could, in this calculation, appeal to politicians and voters who may not identify with Gachagua’s more confrontational style of politics.
That creates a potential problem for Gachagua.
The DCP leader is building a political machine whose strength would ultimately be measured not only by the presidential candidate it supports, but by the number of Governors, Senators, MPs and MCAs elected on its ticket.
Those numbers could become an important bargaining tool after the 2027 election.
If DCP controls a large bloc of elected leaders from Mt Kenya, Gachagua would have greater political leverage when negotiating with whoever emerges as President. But if Nyoro’s political vehicle wins a significant number of those seats, the arithmetic changes dramatically.
That, therefore, could explain why Nyoro’s declaration that he will support the opposition’s eventual presidential choice has not completely settled the dispute.
The issue may not be who gets Mt Kenya’s presidential vote. The real contest could be who gets to control Mt Kenya’s political numbers after the vote.
For Gachagua, Nyoro’s entry potentially threatens the political mathematics of building a dominant regional party. For Nyoro, however, the argument is that supporting the broader Wantam objective does not require surrendering the region’s local political space to one party.
The emerging battle is consequently less about dividing Mt Kenya’s presidential vote and more about determining who will command the Governors, Senators, MPs and MCAs that emerge from the region in 2027.
In other words, the fight may not be over who becomes President. It may be over who controls the numbers after the President is elected.
