Laikipia East Member of Parliament (MP) Mwangi Kiunjuri has defended President William Ruto against widespread backlash over unfulfilled promises, while at the same time taking a swipe at Mount Kenya leaders opposing the current administration.
Speaking on Wednesday, May 22, 2025, at the Laikipia East NG-CDF offices in Nanyuki during a development inspection tour, Kiunjuri defended Ruto’s performance, pointing to specific gains including increased fertilizer access, resumption of stalled road projects, and strategic appointments favoring Mt. Kenya.
Contrasting the current regime with past regimes, which he claimed sidelined the region, Kiunjuri urged locals to pat the government's back, and stop just seeing the ills.
“You can’t dismiss everything this government has done. Let’s give credit where it’s due,” he said.
Kiunjuri, took a swipe at Opposition leaders who he alleged are hell-bent on tainting the Kenya-Kwanza administration's reputation.
The legislator, mocked the opposition-aligned leaders for their loud criticism without tangible political infrastructure to back it, describing them as disorganized lightweights. He stated that the critics lack the political muscle to mount a serious challenge against the president.
He blushed off the criticism saying, “Unajua kuna watu wanasema siku hizi hatutaki kusikia president akitajwa sasa wewe jameni, hutaki president atajwe na hauna pesa yako, hauna watu, hauna chama ni kelele tu."
Simply meaning, "You oppose President Ruto, yet you have no money, no people, no party—it’s just noise".
The former Cabinet Secretary urged Mt. Kenya residents to support the government's initiatives in order to benefit from infrastructural development and state appointments.
Kiunjuri, warned that Mt. Kenya risks becoming politically irrelevant in the 2027 General Election if it allows itself to be divided.
“We must not gamble with our future by following people who have no agenda. The region must speak in one voice or risk being spectators in the next government,” he cautioned.
As the political scramble for Mt Kenya heats up, President Ruto and his impeached deputy Gachagua are laying out parallel political strategies to win the support of the populous, vote-rich region ahead of the 2027 polls.
Gachagua has formed a new political movement composed of allies in the legislature. The new outfit, the Ituungati movement, is similar to the ‘Tangatanga’ group which Ruto formed in 2018 to face his then-boss President Uhuru Kenyatta, after failing to get Uhuru’s support as his successor in the 2022 elections.
Ituungati, which means “the servants of the community”, is a Kikuyu word derived from Kenya’s Mau Mau liberation war in the 1950s. According to Gachagua, the word aims to portray the new group – which mostly comprises legislators who opposed his impeachment – as the ‘heroes’ of the Mt Kenya region.
Borrowing its activities heavily from Ruto’s Tangatanga, the legislators have been accompanying Gachagua to different social and political functions, which they later use to criticise Ruto over alleged failed promises to Kenyans. They have also been holding a series of press conferences, issuing statements critical of the Ruto administration.
Just as Tangatanga was formed after Ruto fell out with Uhuru after the latter ditched Ruto and opted to support Raila Odinga as his preferred presidential candidate in 2022, the Ituungati movement was formed after Gachagua’s impeachment.
Though its activities are largely seen as a copy of the Tangatanga political script, Ituungati top officials described the outfit as “the new voice” of the Kenyan people.
In what appears to be a calculated political move for revenge against Ruto’s perceived betrayal by pushing him out, Gachagua has started lining up contestants to face Ruto’s allies in various elective seats in Mt Kenya in 2027.
The former Dp, also recently launched his own political outfit, which he plans to use to contest for the top seat.
