Ruku turns on Waiguru over deputy president ambitions: ‘That seat is not being contested for’
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku
The Cabinet Secretary’s public rebuke of the Kirinyaga governor exposes deepening tensions within the Mount Kenya wing of Ruto’s coalition ahead of 2027
By Jack Kamande
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku publicly rebuked Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru yesterday, accusing her of undermining Deputy President Kithure Kindiki by openly campaigning for his position and warning that such behaviour threatened to destabilise President William Ruto’s political standing in Mount Kenya ahead of the August 2027 general election.
Speaking at the ACK St. John’s Church in Kiambu County, Ruku was unambiguous in his target and his message. The Deputy President’s position, he argued, is not a prize to be publicly contested — it is the President’s sole prerogative to determine, and anyone who believes otherwise is not merely being presumptuous but is actively undermining the second-in-command’s authority and, by extension, the presidency itself.
“I have seen others from this region saying that they are also vying for the Deputy President’s seat,” Ruku said. “The President is the only one who knows who can help him work — not going online and on podiums saying you will be in the race. That is undermining the President’s seat.” He then made his target explicit. “That kind of behaviour we have seen with the governor of Kirinyaga should stop. If you want that seat, look for President Ruto, you sit down and talk. That seat is not being contested for. The only person who knows the person to occupy it is the President.”
The remarks represent a significant escalation in what has been a quietly simmering tension within Ruto’s Mount Kenya political architecture. Waiguru formally declared her interest in the Deputy President’s slot on 10th October, positioning herself as a candidate for Ruto’s running mate in 2027 with stated ambitions to run for the presidency herself in 2032. She cited her presence alongside Ruto during key international engagements as evidence of her readiness for national leadership and reaffirmed her loyalty to the President, dismissing suggestions she might cross to the Democracy for the Citizens Party led by impeached former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Waiguru’s declaration, however bold, landed in politically treacherous terrain. Mount Kenya’s relationship with the Ruto administration has grown considerably more complicated since Gachagua’s impeachment — an event that many in the region experienced as a calculated diminishment of their political representation. Kindiki, a Meru native, was installed as replacement, but his consolidation of genuine Mount Kenya loyalty remains a work in progress. Into that unsettled environment, Waiguru’s public campaign for the deputy presidency introduces fresh variables that the ruling coalition can ill afford.
Ruku’s intervention signals that at least part of Ruto’s inner circle regards her manoeuvring as a net negative — one that risks fragmenting a regional bloc the President needs unified and focused as the opposition, led by Gachagua’s DCP in alliance with Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, intensifies its own consolidation efforts across the same territory.
The deeper irony is that Waiguru’s public ambition, however disruptive it may be to coalition discipline, reflects a reality that Ruto himself must eventually address. The Deputy President’s position on the 2027 ticket remains, technically, an open question. Every ambitious figure within the President’s coalition knows it. Ruku’s message — sit down, speak privately, stop the public theatre — may well be sound political advice. Whether Waiguru heeds it is another matter entirely.
In Mount Kenya’s volatile pre-election politics, ambition rarely stays quiet for long.
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Mt Kenya Times ePAPER October 26, 2026
- Sakaja challenges Kamukunji police over Eastleigh suspect bail
- Muturi demands binding livestreaming rules for 2027 polls to prevent repeat of 2022 chaos
- NTSA calls for road safety to be declared a national disaster after 24 die in Mtito Andei crash
- Instruments required for professional oral hygiene procedures and the requirements for these instruments
About the Author
