Ruitho Peter

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika: “Our mountain is Menengai, not Mount Kenya. Leave us alone.” Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika has rejected any attempt to pull the county into the Mt Kenya political bloc. Speaking on Friday, 6 November 2026, she told former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to stay out of Nakuru’s politics. “The people in Nakuru will decide on their own. We are in the Rift Valley; there is no Mountain here. Our mountain is Menengai, not Mount Kenya; so leave us alone,” Kihika said. She insisted Nakuru is geographically and politically part of the Rift Valley, not an extension of Mt Kenya, despite its large Kikuyu population. The remarks come as Gachagua intensifies activity in the county, has accused her of betrayal, and vowed to unseat her in 2027. Kihika also accused him of intimidating Kikuyu businessmen in Nakuru who do not support him. But Kihika does not know what she is playing with. Rigathi Gachagua remains the most powerful and influential political figure among the large Kikuyu and Mt Kenya communities in Nakuru. He helped deliver her the governorship in 2022, still draws huge crowds in the county, and has already declared he will unseat her in 2027. Nakuru has a massive Mt Kenya voter bloc that votes as one. Dismissing that reality and picking a direct fight with the man who commands it is a dangerous gamble.