How Kindiki is mirroring Ruto’s 2022 playbook to rebuild UDA’s Mt Kenya support

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki is taking an increasingly active political role across the Mt Kenya region as the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) works to rebuild its grassroots machinery and consolidate support for President William Ruto ahead of the 2027 General Election.

Kindiki’s approach bears similarities to the strategy Ruto deployed in the region during the 2022 election campaign, when the then Deputy President invested heavily in grassroots mobilisation, cultivated local political networks and repeatedly visited communities while selling an economic message designed to expand UDA’s influence beyond the established Jubilee Party structures.

Four years later, Kindiki is attempting a similar ground-level engagement, although from a markedly different political position.

Unlike Ruto in 2022, Kindiki is now the sitting Deputy President and UDA deputy party leader, seeking to defend the record of an administration he serves while rebuilding the ruling party’s political networks in a region where its support has faced growing competition.

The strategy has increasingly centred on the structures that determine political organisation at constituency, ward and polling-centre level rather than relying solely on major rallies and national-level alliances.

Political analyst and Nakuru County MCA aspirant John Wahinya told The Star that Kindiki’s recent activities resemble the grassroots approach Ruto used before the 2022 election, particularly in the way the Deputy President has taken the UDA conversation directly to local communities.

Wahinya said Kindiki had spent the past year holding meetings at his village home in Tharaka-Nithi and his Karen residence as he sought to strengthen UDA’s networks across Mt Kenya, a region whose political relationship with the Kenya Kwanza administration has become increasingly contested.

“In 2022, Ruto’s campaign invested heavily in building UDA’s grassroots machinery across Mt Kenya, recruiting local politicians, community leaders and supporters at a time when the region’s established political organisation was largely associated with President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party,” he said.

According to Wahinya, the strategy was based on sustained engagement with local networks rather than relying entirely on national political alliances or high-profile rallies.

Kindiki appears to be putting similar emphasis on grassroots structures as he seeks to mobilise support for Ruto’s re-election bid and strengthen UDA’s presence across the region.

The Deputy President has also increasingly tied his political message to the government’s development record.

During a visit to Murang’a on Wednesday, Kindiki urged residents to support Ruto’s re-election while challenging politicians who, he said, were asking voters to listen to them because of their previous experience in government.

“We should support President William Ruto for re-election and later he will join retired President Uhuru in retirement. Do not listen to those telling you they were in government. What did they do when they were in government?” Kindiki asked.

He said he would avoid politics centred on insults and instead campaign on development.

“I know President William Ruto, and I shall pass the test on development. But if it is a contest of insults, we will fail because we do not know how to insult, nor do we want to,” he said in Murang’a.

Building from the polling centre

One of the clearest signs of Kindiki’s grassroots strategy has been his engagement with UDA officials elected at polling-centre level.

In September, he met nearly 30,000 elected UDA grassroots officials from Meru County at Kinoru Stadium, where he discussed party affairs and the government’s development agenda. The meeting was part of wider efforts by UDA to strengthen its local structures ahead of the 2027 election.

Kindiki has also been engaging officials in Embu.

He said he met more than 15,000 UDA polling-centre officials from across the county following their election earlier in the year, telling them to defend the government’s record and counter what he described as lies, propaganda and misinformation from political competitors.

The emphasis on polling-centre officials is significant because it shifts the political conversation from large crowds to the organisational structures responsible for mobilising voters at the local level.

It is an approach that echoes the importance Ruto placed on grassroots networks during the 2022 campaign, when UDA sought to build an alternative political machine in areas where Jubilee had previously dominated.

The strategy, however, has also exposed Kindiki and UDA to political resistance. A September 12 meeting involving UDA officials in Embu was disrupted by chaos, with reports of vehicles being torched and police using tear gas to disperse crowds. Kindiki said the meeting had brought together more than 15,000 polling-centre officials.

The elders’ factor

Kindiki’s political mobilisation has also moved beyond party structures to include elders and cultural institutions.

On September 19, a section of Mt Kenya elders gathered at Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu County and endorsed Kindiki as the region’s spokesperson and representative.

The declaration was signed by representatives of organisations including Kiama Kia Ma, the Kikuyu Council of Elders, Njuri Ncheke, Kiama Kia Muembu, Ngome and Nyangi Ndiriri. The elders reaffirmed their commitment to unity among the Agikuyu, Ameru, Aembu and Ambeere communities.

The elders also called for peaceful political participation and opposed efforts to divide the region into separate political blocs. Their declaration placed Kindiki at the centre of a new political conversation over Mt Kenya’s regional voice ahead of the 2027 election.

Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders Secretary-General for Operations Josphat Murangiri told The Star that Kindiki had been tasked with reaching out to leaders and promoting peace and unity across the region.

Murangiri said elders would continue engaging leaders and their counterparts across Mt Kenya regardless of political affiliation.

“We presented Kithure Kindiki to Mt Kenya West elders on behalf of Njuri Ncheke as a sign of demonstrating that there is no division between East and West, we will support him as the region most high politician,” he said.

He defended the Kirigiti gathering, arguing that it was primarily an assembly of elders rather than a political rally.

“Politicians have messed this Country and that why as elders, we have agreed to lead them to the right way and we are happy that unity call across the region is gaining momentum,” Murangiri said.

Kikuyu Council of Elders National Patron Wachira Kiago similarly called on leaders from across Mt Kenya to work together regardless of their political affiliations.

Kiago said elders would reach out to leaders within GEMA and also engage Kamba elders as part of a broader unity initiative.

“We have planned to hold another meeting with all elders including those from Kamba community for a proper meeting but the central role is that Kenya we need peace for the sake of prosperity,” Kiago said.

The Kirigiti endorsement has nevertheless attracted opposition from a section of politicians and elders who questioned whether the gathering represented the entire Mt Kenya region. Ndia MP George Kariuki, Juja MP George Koimburi and other critics have challenged the process through which Kindiki was endorsed.

That disagreement underscores the political challenge facing Kindiki: turning an endorsement by a section of elders into broader acceptance across a politically diverse region.

From symbolism to grassroots politics

Political commentator Jonah Nkari told The Star that the Kirigiti endorsement had given Kindiki a wider platform from which to expand his grassroots political networks.

“Kindiki’s Mt Kenya elders’ endorsement was a very smart political move. Regardless of how critics may view it, the coronation has strengthened his image as a mobiliser and as a leader determined to rebuild his political standing and prove his doubters wrong.”

Nkari said Kindiki had spent years without the extensive grassroots networks and political relationships needed to exercise influence across the region but had become increasingly visible on the ground over the past two years.

“For the last close to two years, he has been consistently on the ground, across different parts of the country, engaging communities, elders, leaders and grassroots networks. He looks like a man on a mission.”

He said the Kirigiti endorsement had elevated that mobilisation by giving Kindiki a broader regional platform after elders from the Kikuyu, Meru, Embu and Mbeere communities endorsed him as their spokesperson.

Nkari said the move had also introduced a new contest over who can speak for Mt Kenya and provide the political link between the region and the national government.

However, he cautioned that Kindiki would still have to translate the symbolism of the endorsement into lasting grassroots relationships.

“Kindiki has created a political opening. He now has to convert the symbolism into genuine grassroots relationships, visible development and a wider national coalition beyond Mt Kenya. His own response after the endorsement—calling for reconciliation and unity across Mt Kenya, already points in that direction,” he said.

Political analyst and Juja MP aspirant Waruiru Waithaka said Kindiki’s emphasis on reconciliation after the Kirigiti gathering showed that he was seeking to expand the political space created by the elders’ endorsement.

“Kindiki is rebuilding the bridge between the government and Mt Kenya. His engagement with elders and communities is creating new inroads for Ruto in a region where the government needs to reconnect with voters,” Waithaka said.

He argued that the repeated consultations were about restoring political relationships rather than simply assembling large crowds.

“Kindiki understands that you cannot rebuild political support in Mt Kenya from Nairobi. You have to go back to the people, listen to the elders, engage the communities and rebuild those relationships from the grassroots,” Waithaka said.

Political analyst Albert Kasembeli recently told The Star that Kindiki’s approach should not be viewed only through the lens of mobilising votes for Ruto.

“Kindiki is not trying to outdo Gachagua. He is trying to change the institution through which Mt Kenya speaks,” he said.

Kasembeli said Kindiki was building his regional engagement around elders, councils and cultural legitimacy, placing him at the centre of an emerging contest over who can speak for Mt Kenya and provide a political link between the region and the national government.

The 2032 succession message

Kindiki has also begun weaving his own political future into his defence of Ruto’s re-election.

During his Murang’a visit, he used a football analogy to describe what he suggested could happen after Ruto completes another term in 2032.

“The ball is not given to the player who is behind or thrown outside because you do not want the player near the goal to score. We are in one club and the ball should be given to the ‘fireman’ (Kindiki) because I am the nearest to the goalpost. It only needs to be moved slightly towards me, and I will score,” he said as the crowd shouted “two term”.

Nominated MP Sabina Chege backed Kindiki’s position and referred to the Kirigiti endorsement as she called for support for the Deputy President and the government.

“Mithigi ndirugamaga iri (there is always one leader per time and no two) we will support you and the government due to development you have brought to this area,” Sabina said.

She urged voters to support UDA as well as the re-election of Ruto and Kindiki.

Maragua MP Mary Wamaua similarly praised the Deputy President over what she described as transformative development in the area.

“We are fully behind you and President William Ruto, your development record is speaking on itself,” Wamaua said.

Kangema MP Peter Kihungi, meanwhile, called for the region to remain united and rejected attempts to divide Mt Kenya into separate political blocs.

“We must stay together as all communities from Mt Kenya. We are grateful you have taken a stand that we must stay united and no one should divide us. No one else should try to isolate any part of this region,” the lawmaker said.

For Kindiki, the emerging strategy therefore combines three strands: rebuilding UDA’s grassroots machinery, using development as the central political message and cultivating relationships with elders and community networks.

That formula carries echoes of the grassroots mobilisation that helped Ruto expand UDA’s reach in Mt Kenya ahead of the 2022 election, although the political circumstances are now different.

The immediate test will be whether Kindiki can turn meetings with party officials, elders and communities into durable political networks capable of sustaining the government’s support across the region as the 2027 campaign takes shape.