Isaac Mwaura Apologises to Mt Kenya Region After UDA’s Heavy Ol Kalou By-Election Loss
Ruto's spokesperson just went to Mt Kenya and said sorry, here's why
Government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura travelled to Kieni Constituency on Saturday, July 18, to appeal to Mt Kenya residents to stick with President William Ruto’s government.
The visit came a day after UDA’s candidate was routed in the Ol Kalou by-election, pulling in only 5,450 votes against a landslide win for the opposition. Mwaura addressed the crowd at Mbiriri Comprehensive School alongside Education CS Julius Ogamba.
Mwaura didn’t dodge the loss. He told residents the government had made mistakes and asked for a chance to make things right rather than losing the region entirely. “I am beseeching you, can we exit the government in search of another? If there are instances where we made mistakes, we say sorry and start talking in person,” he said, urging people to set political camps aside and talk to each other directly.
He pointed to coffee prices, road construction and electricity connectivity as proof the government has delivered for the region, a line CS Ogamba echoed at the same event.
A loss the government can’t brush off easily
The numbers explain the urgency. DCP’s Sammy Ngotho beat UDA’s Samuel Muchina by more than 30,000 votes, one of the ruling party’s heaviest by-election defeats in recent memory. Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, whose party won the seat, called it the beginning of the end for UDA in Mt Kenya and urged voters to reject sitting UDA MPs in 2027.
Not everyone in government is reading it that way. Presidential Advisor Makau Mutua dismissed the result as irrelevant to the next general election, and Public Service CS Geoffrey Ruku said Mt Kenya East’s loyalty to Ruto isn’t up for debate regardless of what happened in Ol Kalou. Mwaura’s apology tour suggests at least some in government see it differently.
Ol Kalou was a small seat, but the reaction to it wasn’t. A government spokesperson publicly apologising to a region is a rare move, and it shows real nervousness inside Kenya Kwanza about Mt Kenya heading into 2027, even as other officials in the same government insist there’s nothing to worry about.
