The End of Kindiki Era in Ruto's Government?

[00:00:00]Good movie.

[00:00:00]>> Yeah.

[00:00:01]>> Kindiki, will he be retained?

[00:00:03]>> Maybe.

[00:00:04]Maybe. Maybe a big maybe has a mathematical chance.

[00:00:08]He has a mathematical chance of being retained.

[00:00:10]>> So, maybe maybe not.

[00:00:11]>> Maybe maybe not.

[00:00:12]>> called Ruto's fireman sent to Mount Kenya to put out the fires Gachagua left burning. Last week, the fire caught up with him instead. One by-election, one landslide, and now the whispers in state house aren't about strategy, they're about an exit. This is the end of the Kindiki era, and it happened faster than anyone in Karen or Kirinyaga expected.

[00:00:37]>> Mount Kenya used to like to negotiate directly uh with the potential potential candidates.

[00:00:46]Uh we don't have to negotiate through Mount Kenya West.

[00:00:52]I think that's the position we are taking.

[00:00:54]Um our relations between Mount Kenya East and Mount Kenya West is a domestic relationship.

[00:01:04]Uh we have our own internal uh issues.

[00:01:09]Uh but I think this cannot be carried too far into the future.

[00:01:20]And because I think the biggest challenge right now is that is that of distribution of resources uh between Mount Kenya West and Mount Kenya East.

[00:01:31]Uh we feel we belong to the same house.

[00:01:36]You know, but certain corners of the house are being treated better than the others.

[00:01:42]>> Nandarua County, July 16th. On paper, a routine parliamentary by-election. In reality, a death certificate. Sammy Douglas Wa Weru Kamau, Sammy Ngotho, ran for Rigathi Gachagua's Democracy for Citizens Party in all kalou. He didn't just beat UDA's Samuel Mashina Nyaga, he buried him. 35,440 votes against 5,450 votes.

[00:02:09]>> [snorts] >> 85% to 13. In Kenyan politics, when you lose by that margin in your own backyard, you haven't lost an election, you've lost the region. And Nyandarua wasn't just any region, it was Kithure Kindiki's proving ground. Kindiki hails from Tharaka Nithi, heart of Mount Kenya East, Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi, roughly 1.4 million votes. He was handpicked to deliver after Gachagua's 2024 impeachment. He crisscrossed the villages, held his strategy meetings, leaned so hard into his self-styled fireman persona that Ruto na fire si fire became his campaign heartbeat. But a fireman who can't put out the fire in his own compound isn't a fireman, he's kindling. Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang'ata said it plainly, the loss [snorts] weakened Kindiki's standing in Mount Kenya, and no leader claims national clout without first proving they can win at home. Even Ruto loyalists like Oscar Sudi called it a wake-up call. That's not damage control, that's a eulogy dressed up as encouragement.

[00:03:54]>> For example In the kitchen with another Kenya.

[00:04:00]What do we change your mind and what do you want to get here? So what can I not hack it? Your mind alone.

[00:04:05]What can I not hack it? Are you okay with Katie? I don't come out of eating and keep up with Canada. I want to get there. What is that? What is it to sing and I enjoy to sing and I enjoy for us.

[00:04:14]Huh?

[00:04:15]What do you want to get here? You want to find out what William Ruto has got? I saw what Kenya So what is that income?

[00:04:20]>> And then Gachagua opened his mouth and the temperature in State House dropped several degrees. The former Deputy President still nursing the scars of his own 2024 ouster, warned that Ruto's inner circle was plotting to sideline Kindiki exactly the way they sidelined him. He told Kindiki that if the axe falls, he'll be welcomed back home. Read between the lines, Gachagua isn't just predicting Kindiki's downfall, he's rolling [snorts] out the red carpet for it, positioning this seat as the safety net for a man Ruto's own system may soon discard.

[00:04:55]>> You never [snorts] thought about it.

[00:04:56]Really what do you want to learn in the course of a shiver?

[00:04:59]I mean that you can put this on your Kindle key up.

[00:05:02]I want to say I have a shiver. So where is the professor?

[00:05:05]You are a person.

[00:05:07]I want to tell you because you are a person.

[00:05:10]You can put this on your Kindle key up.

[00:05:12]Because what do you want to do?

[00:05:13]Welcome back home.

[00:05:18]Zindua.

[00:05:19]What do you want to do with your movie?

[00:05:21]I am a fan of the song.

[00:05:23]Sorry, they don't see him like anybody.

[00:05:27]And I will send what to him.

[00:05:28]You never thought about it. I have a friend of yours and I want to tell you.

[00:05:31]Be careful.

[00:05:33]When Ruto decided he cannot work with me.

[00:05:38]He sent people to poison me in Kisumu.

[00:05:43]When it did not work, he sent people to poison me here. I was very careful.

[00:05:48]I used to go to State House.

[00:05:50]He would pick the first plate.

[00:05:54]>> Kindiki isn't just bleeding from Mount Kenya. He's being squeezed from every corner of the map with Raila Odinga gone since October 2025. ODM and Odinga is now demanding the Deputy Presidency as an irreducible minimum, non-negotiable, full stop.

[00:06:12]>> The way I can see I'll send what to our son.

[00:06:27]Professor Kithure Kindiki to be careful.

[00:06:30]Hii maneno ya mandege, be careful.

[00:06:33]Be careful.

[00:06:34]Hii maneno ya chakula, be careful.

[00:06:37]Because at the end of it all, he is still our son.

[00:06:40]Si ni mtoto wetu?

[00:06:42]Na mimi ndio nataka kuomba for now.

[00:06:53]Asikue uncomfortable.

[00:06:59]We direct all our fire against Kasongo.

[00:07:02]Hii Kindiki for now.

[00:07:06]We leave him alone.

[00:07:07]Let him be.

[00:07:14]But for now, let us focus on William Ruto.

[00:07:25]>> So, where does this leave Ruto? Stuck between two bad roads, keep Kindiki and risk watching Mount Kenya East slip away entirely to Gachagua's growing movement, drop him and risk alienating the very block he was appointed to calm while gambling on a Luo or ODM-aligned replacement that could ignite backlash of its own. Insiders already calling Kindiki a wasted cartilage, loyal, sharp, technocratic, but unable to fire the votes Ruto actually needs. The fireman is still technically on duty, but the house he was sent to save is burning from a fire he can't reach. And the man who lit the match, Rigathi Gachagua, is standing outside watching and waiting to welcome him home. No official word from State House, no confirmation, no denial, just silence.

[00:08:14]The kind of silence that in Kenyan politics usually means a decision has already been made. Newsroom, Maisha TV, Mesh Msimbi.