President William Ruto has pushed back against claims that any individual delivered the Mt Kenya vote to his 2022 presidential campaign, saying he personally travelled across the region to seek support from voters.
Speaking during a Sunday service at the Full Gospel Church in Gatunduri, Embu County, the President said the backing he received from the vote-rich region came from direct engagement with residents rather than the influence of political allies.
“I came here and asked you to vote for me, and you did. Do you remember? You saw me looking for votes here, in your churches, and I asked you to pray for me, and you gave me your votes,” Ruto told the congregation.
Without mentioning former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua by name, the President appeared to respond to repeated claims that his former deputy played the decisive role in rallying Mt Kenya behind the Kenya Kwanza coalition during the 2022 General Election.
“But I hear some people arrogantly saying that they are the ones who asked you to vote for me,” Ruto said.
“They are implying that I did not come to ask for votes in Embu and that they are the ones who looked for votes for me.”
Ruto argued that voters backed him after agreeing on a shared development agenda during his campaign tours across the region.
“You voted for me, Embu people, because I asked you to do that and we agreed that we will work together,” he said, urging leaders to avoid what he described as arrogance and instead focus on serving the public.
The President also defended his administration’s record, pointing to lower fertiliser prices, reforms in the coffee sector and increased spending on education.
“We talked about agriculture. You know, the price of fertiliser now has reduced. We talked about improving coffee prices, which we have done,” he said.
Ruto added that his government had recruited 100,000 teachers over the past four years and increased the education budget from Sh500 billion in 2022 to Sh734 billion in the current financial year.
“We have made tremendous strides in education. I have employed 100,000 teachers in four years,” he said.
He said his administration would continue delivering on its campaign promises and invited Kenyans to judge its performance.
“Come next year, we will come to take stock of what we have achieved. We will have a test,” the President said.
The remarks come amid an ongoing political dispute between Ruto and Gachagua. The former Deputy President has repeatedly maintained that he was instrumental in mobilising support across Mt Kenya during the 2022 campaign, arguing that his grassroots efforts helped secure Ruto’s victory in the region.
Ruto’s latest comments signal that the debate over who deserves credit for the Kenya Kwanza victory in Mt Kenya remains a central fault line in the evolving political relationship between the two leader
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