Kirigiti: What It Means That Mt Kenya Elders Named Kindiki Their Spokesman

Elders from the Kikuyu, Embu, Mbeere and Meru communities gathered at Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu County in September 2026 and named Deputy President Kithure Kindiki the spokesman of a united Mt Kenya region. The Star put the crowd at about 30,000 elders. The endorsement gives President William Ruto's camp a cultural claim to the region that Rigathi Gachagua has called his own since his impeachment in 2024. It has no legal force and delivers no votes by itself.

Reports disagree on the date. One Star report put the event on 18 September; the paper's later analysis, and Eastleigh Voice, gave Saturday 19 September.

Who was there, and what they signed

The Star listed the councils as Kiama Kia Ma, the Kikuyu Council of Elders, the Njuri Ncheke of Meru, Kiama Kia Muembu, Ngome and Ngangi Ndiriri. Their declaration read: "We hereby endorse and mandate Kithure Kindiki to serve as our spokesperson and representative in advancing the interests and aspirations of the Mount Kenya Region."

The elders also backed Ruto's development programme and asked residents to create "a conducive and enabling political environment" for the current leadership.

Kindiki talked about unity. "We are the same people in terms of business and even culture, so there is no reason for us to be divided," he said, according to The Star.

The East-West question it tries to close

For much of the past year Kenya Kwanza's side of the region has carried two identities. Mt Kenya East, meaning Meru, Tharaka-Nithi and Embu, has been treated as Kindiki's base. Mt Kenya West, the Kikuyu heartland of Kiambu, Murang'a, Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Nyandarua, has been Gachagua's. We explained the split in Mount Kenya East and Mount Kenya West, explained.

Kirigiti was meant to rub that line out. The Star reported that Public Service CS Geoffrey Ruku, who had promoted a distinct Mt Kenya East identity, symbolically handed back an axe representing division and was given a flywhisk and a reconciliation role. The choice of Kiambu mattered too, since it put a Meru politician's endorsement in the western half of the mountain.

He had been working that half for months. On 18 September in Mwea, Kirinyaga, he said: "When President Ruto and I come next year to ask for a second term...", The Star reported, and he cited Sh37 billion for Kirinyaga roads. The Nation counted more than 30 trips to the region in ten months: over 15 to Meru, about seven each to Tharaka-Nithi and Embu, and four to Kirinyaga. Speaking in Tharaka on 21 September, Kindiki said the elders had told him to stop engaging his opponents.

The reply from Gachagua's side

Gachagua, speaking from his tour of the United States, dismissed the event. "Dividing the mountain using Kithure Kindiki...is like trying to cut a Mugumo tree using a razor blade. It is mission impossible," The Star quoted him. He alleged that elders were paid Sh3,000 each to attend, and called them "fake". Neither claim was backed by evidence in the reports we read.

John Methu (Senator, Nyandarua), a Gachagua ally in the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), told the Nation: "It is the people of the region who decide who should be the kingpin, not the elders." DCP also alleged that Sh60 billion was being used to "split the Mountain".

Ruto's own camp had objections as well. George Kariuki (Ndia) and George Koimburi (Juja) said elected leaders and communities should have been consulted first, The Star reported. Kariuki went further on 20 September, saying Ruto would struggle to win re-election with Kindiki as his deputy and offering himself as running mate.

What the title is worth

Elders do not run party primaries, and they do not count ballots. Prof Peter Kagwanja told The Star that Kirigiti had opened a new power contest between Gachagua and Kindiki.

Where Mt Kenya has actually voted in 2026, the results have gone the other way. DCP won the Ol Kalou by-election in Nyandarua on 16 July 2026 by 35,440 votes to 5,450, and the governors of Murang'a and Nyandarua have moved to DCP. We looked at that trend in Mount Kenya is voting against the government it elected.

For Kindiki, the endorsement also strengthens his case to stay on Ruto's ticket, a question covered in Kindiki, the running-mate question and Mt Kenya East's 2032 IOU. A fairer measure of Kirigiti will be whether Kindiki can fill a stadium in Murang'a, Nyeri or Nyandarua with ordinary voters before party primaries close in May 2027.