Who Is Agnes Kagure? The Nairobi Governor Aspirant in the Polls

Agnes Kagure, a Nairobi businesswoman who leads the Kenya Patriots Party (KPP), is running for governor of the city in 2027. She has never held elective office. Even so, the two largest polls of the race we found for 2026 both put her second, behind Babu Owino (Embakasi East) and ahead of the incumbent, Johnson Sakaja (Governor, Nairobi). Her slogan, as of 23 September 2026, was "AK ndio dawa".

The 2022 run

This is her second attempt. In June 2022 The Star reported that she was standing as an independent, the only woman in a field that included Sakaja and Polycarp Igathe. Abel Oyieyo was her running mate, and her platform rested on health workers, water and transport. Sakaja won that August.

Outside politics she runs the Agnes Kagure Foundation, which launched a campaign against gender-based violence in December 2024, AllAfrica reported. Two months before that, in October 2024, she said she was facing politically motivated attacks.

Some of her business affairs have ended up in court. On 23 June 2025 The Standard reported on a long dispute over a Karen property formerly owned by the late British national Roger Bryan Robson: Kagure and a company, Prover Haunt Limited, lost their succession claim. The judge found no evidence that Robson had been coerced or unfit when he wrote his will.

Her party

KPP is a small outfit. In October 2025 it fielded a candidate, Geoffrey Owino, in the Kariobangi North ward by-election, The Standard reported. On 18 September 2026 she invited members of Linda Mwananchi, and of other groups unhappy with their parties, to join KPP through its USSD registration.

What the polls say

Poll after poll in 2026 has had her in second place.

In the August Mizani poll the gap between Owino and Kagure, 1.2 points, was inside the margin of error.

One widely shared number was false. A graphic shared from 26 August claimed to be an Ipsos poll putting James Gakuya (Embakasi North) at 52.56 per cent; PesaCheck confirmed it was fake, and Ipsos said it ran no such poll. See how to read a poll margin.

Her pitch against Sakaja

Most of her fire is aimed at the incumbent. When Sakaja confirmed on 26 August 2026 that ODM was courting him, she mocked the plan and predicted a vote margin of 254,000. On 2 September she wrote that Nairobi's "reign of incompetence" was ending, and on 9 September she urged the county to act on El Nino flood warnings before the rains.

A visit to the Louvre in August got her talking about tourism and heritage sites.

The crowded field

She is far from alone. At least eight names have been reported as interested in the seat: Sakaja, Owino, Kagure, Gakuya for the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), Margaret Wanjiru (Starehe) under the Kenya Moja Movement, Ronald Karauri (Kasarani), former Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and KANU spokesperson Tony Gachoka. The Star's analysis of 20 September named Gakuya, Owino and Wanjiru as the main contest and left Kagure out of that group.

The convention

Kagure has no bloc of MPs or MCAs behind her. Whether she runs on her own ticket or inside a coalition is the open question. KPP must also meet the Registrar's calendar; see the party nomination deadlines and how women are entering governor races. Our earlier profile of Babu Owino covers the poll leader.