Revered blogger Cyprian Nyakundi has lifted the lid on what he describes as President William Ruto’s calculated plan to revive the infamous 41 vs 1 mantra ahead of the 2027 presidential election, a strategy soaked in the blood of Kenya’s darkest political chapter.
The 41 vs 1 plan was a tribal war cry weaponised by the Orange Democratic Movement in 2007, where leaders deliberately stoked hatred towards the Kikuyu community to rally the remaining forty-one tribes against them. The consequences were catastrophic. Over 1,100 Kenyans lost their lives, and more than half a million were displaced in the post-election violence that followed, leaving wounds that have never fully healed.
Ruto, who was then the Member of Parliament for Eldoret North, was widely regarded as one of the chief engineers behind that mantra. He was subsequently indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity, charges that were eventually dropped in 2015 due to lack of evidence, following the mysterious disappearance and killing of key witnesses.
Now, according to Nyakundi, history is threatening to repeat itself. Having lost the trust and support of the Mount Kenya community, which was the backbone of his 2022 victory, Ruto is said to be quietly dusting off the same playbook, positioning other communities against the vote-rich region in a desperate bid to cobble together a winning coalition for 2027.
Here is Nyakundi’s full statement on X on Thursday
Ruto does not need Uhuru Kenyatta back in the picture because he expects Kikuyus to suddenly run back to him. That ground has largely shifted, and even the regime knows it. The real target is not Kikuyus. The real target is the rest of Kenya.
Ruto wants other communities to look at Mt Kenya politics and say, “Look at how Kikuyus are against him.” He wants to create the impression that his biggest problem is not bad leadership, corruption, overtaxation, police brutality, abductions, broken promises or economic pain, but a coordinated Kikuyu rebellion led by the old regime.
That is why Uhuru is so useful to him. Rigathi Gachagua alone cannot give Ruto that national fear card. After the fallout, Rigathi mostly represents betrayal, impeachment and Mt Kenya anger against Ruto. He is now a reminder that Ruto fell out with the same people who helped carry him to power.
Uhuru is different because Uhuru carries a much bigger political image. He can be packaged as dynasty, handshake, deep state, old regime, state capture and the people who allegedly never accepted Ruto’s presidency. Once Uhuru is pushed back to the centre of the conversation, Ruto can stop defending his record and start warning the rest of Kenya that “they” are coming back.
And this is where Rigathi becomes very interesting.
Every time Rigathi loudly defends Uhuru, praises Uhuru or appears to politically rehabilitate Uhuru, he helps Ruto build the exact picture Ruto wants the rest of the country to see. He helps sell the image that Uhuru and the Mt Kenya establishment are regrouping against Ruto ahead of 2027.
That is why this thing may not be innocent.
Rigathi resurrecting Uhuru politically may look like Mt Kenya unity on the surface, but it also serves Ruto’s national strategy perfectly. It helps Ruto tell other tribes that the Kikuyu political class is ganging up against him, so they must compensate for the votes he has lost in Mt Kenya.
In short, Ruto may have accepted that he has lost a huge part of Mt Kenya, but he can still use Mt Kenya anger to scare other regions into his corner.
That is the game.
Make Uhuru look active again. Make Rigathi look like he is returning Mt Kenya to Uhuru. Make the rest of Kenya fear a Kikuyu political comeback. Then ask them to rescue Ruto from the so-called old regime.
So the question is no longer whether Rigathi is defending Uhuru. The question is why Rigathi’s defence of Uhuru fits so neatly into Ruto’s 2027 script.
