Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has stepped down as Vice Chairperson of the Council of Governors following nationwide condemnation over remarks he made about the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The resignation comes after Kahiga, speaking at a funeral in Nyeri on Tuesday, suggested that Raila Odinga’s death “levelled the playing field” politically and allowed regions like Mt. Kenya to regain influence in government planning.
“I want to apologize to the family, the larger ODM, my colleagues and those in the larger Nyanza region,” Kahiga said in a press briefing on Wednesday. “My remarks are personal, and not those of the people of Nyeri or the Council of Governors.”
Kahiga, who was elected vice chair of the Council on October 6, 2025, confirmed he was resigning with immediate effect.
“I am taking responsibility and resigning with immediate effect as the vice chair of the Council of Governors,” he stated.
During his speech at the funeral, delivered in the Kikuyu language, Kahiga implied that the political balance had shifted in favour of Mt. Kenya and suggested that Raila Odinga’s death was part of a divine plan.
“God came and brought this thing,” Kahiga told mourners. “Now people have been told to go back to the drawing board because the plan that was there was probably to throw us out. But who is God? He came through in his own way.”
The comments triggered swift condemnation. Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, who also serves as Chairperson of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), called Kahiga’s remarks “primitive, insensitive, and insulting.” She added that his history of ethnic profiling had reached “a new low in our politics.”
“His words were a disservice to our politics and a direct insult to the Luo community and the family of the late Raila Odinga,” Wanga said.
The Council of Governors convened an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday. CoG Chair Ahmed Abdullahi stated that Kahiga’s remarks represented his personal views and did not reflect the position of the Council.
Kahiga’s resignation ends a brief but highly controversial tenure as vice chair of the Council, illustrating the sensitivity of political commentary in Kenya, particularly in the wake of the passing of a national figure like Raila Odinga.
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