Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has dismissed former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s claim that he would mobilise more than seven million Mount Kenya votes against President William Ruto in the 2027 General Election.
Gachagua had earlier said the region was targeting at least 7.1 million votes in 2027, arguing that matching the number of votes President Ruto secured nationally in the 2022 election would symbolically correct what he described as the “mistake” of backing the current administration.
“Mount Kenya is now working to mobilise and deliver at least 7.1 million votes on its own in the 2027 General Election,” the ex-DP remarked.
In a post on his Facebook page, Sudi urged Kenyans to ignore what he termed exaggerated political declarations, saying voter statistics do not support Gachagua’s assertion.
“Let’s all calm down and stop making wild proclamations like Gachagua, who just said he will mobilise Molima’s 7M votes against Ruto in 2027,” Sudi wrote.
The lawmaker questioned where the seven million votes would come from, saying the total votes cast in the Mount Kenya region during the 2022 General Election were significantly lower.
“Seven million!? From where?” he posed.
According to Sudi, the Mount Kenya region recorded about 3.8 million votes cast in the 2022 presidential election for both President Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga combined.
He said his calculations included votes from cosmopolitan counties such as Nakuru, Laikipia and Kiambu.
Sudi further argued that although the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has since registered about 527,000 new voters in the region, the numbers still fall short of the seven million votes claimed by Gachagua.
“So, long arithmetic simplified, there is no universe where Gachagua gives anyone above 4M votes, even assuming they vote 100 per cent for his preferred presidential ticket. Maths don’t lie,” Sudi claimed.
The MP also accused Gachagua and his allies of creating what he described as a misleading perception of the region’s voting strength by comparing the number of registered voters with the number of votes actually cast.
“It is not uncommon to hear them say, ‘Sisi tuko na kura million saba.’ That trick won’t work anymore. We now compare registered versus registered, and cast versus cast,” he added.
Sudi’s remarks came in response to statements by Gachagua following the Ol Kalou parliamentary by-election.
The by-election saw Democratic Citizens Party (DCP) candidate Sammy Douglas Waweru defeat United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate Samuel Muchina Nyagah by a wide margin, a result that opposition leaders have described as evidence of the party’s growing influence in the region.
Gachagua and other DCP leaders have since portrayed the outcome as a significant political milestone, saying it signals shifting political support in the Mount Kenya region ahead of the 2027 polls.
However, leaders allied to the Kenya Kwanza administration have downplayed that interpretation.
Constitution scholar Makau Mutua recently dismissed the Ol Kalou outcome as “insignificant” to the 2027 elections.
