Rigathi Gachagua, the former Deputy President, has accused Moses Kuria, the former Public Service Cabinet Secretary, of being responsible for the opposition’s defeat in the November 27, 2025, Mbeere North parliamentary by-election.
During an interview with a local TV station on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, Gachagua stated that the Chama Cha Kazi candidate, backed by Kuria, had split votes from a crucial clan, which would have otherwise gone to Newton Karish, the Democratic Party candidate.
The former MP for Mathira stated that Mbeere elders had solicited his assistance prior to the November 27 election, requesting that he facilitate the election of a single candidate from the contested clan in order to prevent the decisive bloc of votes from being split.
Clan dynamics
Karish and Duncan Mbui, who later defected to CCK after DCP withdrew his candidature, according to the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader Karish, come from the same clan.
Moses Kuria’s candidate in the Mbeere by-election had no impact on the polls. The Mbeere elders’ visit to me was due to the complex clan relationships. Newton Karish and Duncan Mbui, who later joined Chama cha Kazi (CCK), hail from the same clan. The elders informed me that having the two candidates would not be desirable. They requested that I step down this individual so that the clan can have a single candidate, which made a lot of sense given my understanding of clan dynamics and the people of Mbeere, Gachagua stated.
Gachagua claimed he respected the elders’ wishes and removed his preferred candidate, thinking that uniting their votes would increase the opposition’s chances against Leonard Wa Muthende from UDA.
Ruto is accused by Gachagua of influencing Kuria.
He claims that the government later influenced Kuria to field Mbui under CCK, which ultimately led to the clan vote being fractured.
The candidate was withdrawn, but the government then reached out to Kuria, who has ties to the Ruto administration, to secure this individual’s involvement. Kuria’s CCK party is one of the many ‘wheelbarrows’ I have continually claimed Ruto has. He received 2,500 votes. He said those votes would have likely gone to Newton Karish because of clan dynamics.
The former deputy prime minister claimed that despite voter suppression, violence, and bribery during the mini election, the outcome could have been different if the clan vote had remained unchanged.
“Even in the face of voter suppression, violence, and voter bribery, it is likely that the outcome would have been different if those votes had gone to him.”
