Editor’s note: In this opinion piece, Kimutai Kirui observes that President William Ruto may be underestimating a political problem developing inside his own government. According to Kirui, the question is no longer simply whether his interior cabinet secretary is loyal to him.
The bigger question, Kirui says, is whether the occupant of one of the most powerful dockets in government is helping Ruto consolidate power—or creating the resentment that could cost him politically.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen is giving former deputy Rigathi Gachagua traction, momentum, and fuel. Gachagua, the DCP leader, alleged retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s PA for about 6 years, a member of parliament, and a deputy president, needs a strategist, not a heckler. Yet Murkomen’s political style is handing him exactly that advantage. And how do you send a political ‘infant’ like Reuben Kiborek, the Mogotio MP, to answer a seasoned operator like Gachagua? That is not strategy. It is feeding the opposition the microphone.
Kenya has a long history of powerful ministers using state access, appointments, resources, and patronage to build regional political bases. Figures such as John Michuki, Simeon Nyachae, and Nicholas Biwott showed how powerful a minister could become in his backyard.
But there was always a line
Building influence within the president’s coalition was one thing. Building a political machine capable of rivalling or building another empire was another.
What CS Murkomen is doing increasingly resembles the political playbook President Ruto once used in Mt Kenya during the Uhuru era—building loyalist networks while presenting them as support for the sitting president. So, is Murkomen perfecting Ruto’s old script—or is this simply copy and paste? The danger for Ruto is not the tactic itself. It is seeing the same political machinery being built in his own backyard.
This is what is steadily isolating President Ruto and loosening his political grip.
No one should ever be trusted with power without scrutiny—even those closest to the president.
Power breeds ambition, rivalry, and jealousy.
As Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar reminds us, “Et tu, Brute?”
Sometimes, the greatest political danger is not the enemy outside the palace but the trusted ally within it. Mr. President, is Murkomen following your old playbook—or has he simply studied it too well?
Kenya’s political history has little room for ministers who become too independent or too powerful.
The 2010 Constitution changed the structure of government, but not the basic political reality: Cabinet secretaries are presidential appointees, accountable within the executive and expected to implement government policy—not build alternative centers of power. That is why any perception of a Cabinet Secretary building a parallel political machine should concern the president.
Building a political machine to rival or defy the president is one thing. Building one with his blessing is another.
“Influence Is An Asset—Until It Becomes An Alternative Power Center!”
For an interior cabinet secretary, the line should be even clearer:
You cannot control the state’s security machinery while being perceived as building a political machine of your own.
The kingdom behind the kingdom
At the center of the current political concern are Interior CS Murkomen and, from outside the executive, Hon. Oscar Kipchumba Sudi, MP for Kapseret. Murkomen is increasingly perceived by his critics as building what they describe as a “kingdom behind the kingdom”—extending political influence across Nakuru, Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Baringo, Elgeyo-Marakwet, and beyond, fuelling perceptions that he is positioning himself as a Rift Valley kingpin.
The issue is not whether a cabinet secretary can have political influence. That is hardly unusual in Kenya. The real question is whether that influence is being used to shape local political leadership in a way that ultimately serves the president—or creates an independent political center of gravity.
There is a fundamental difference between helping an administration win political support and building a personal political empire. One strengthens the president. The other eventually competes with him. And this is where Ruto should pay close attention.
A sitting president can’t afford a parallel political center
Regional political mobilisation can survive within a ruling coalition when it broadly serves the administration’s political interests. But when a senior official is perceived to be promoting candidates, factions, or networks that threaten established political leaders or is building
Resistance to a reelection bid changes the equation. It becomes a question of executive cohesion.
It becomes a question of who is setting the political agenda. And ultimately, it becomes a question of presidential authority. This is what creates confusion, conflict, and tension—even among the president’s own supporters. People are already interpreting Murkomen’s actions through the lens of political intent and perceived mischief.
Once suspicion takes root, politics quickly turns into division—and the backlash eventually lands at the president’s doorstep. The danger is that the state may then be forced to confront political tensions it helped create but can no longer contain politically. That is where the temptation to use administrative or security machinery becomes particularly dangerous.
Security institutions should never become instruments for managing political resistance.
A cabinet secretary cannot simultaneously present himself as an agent of the president’s government while being perceived as building an independent political machine aimed at capturing power before the incumbent has even secured re-election.
That is where loyalty becomes political competition.
The danger is that this is home
Political resentment rarely begins with a dramatic declaration. It grows quietly—in local meetings, churches, political caucuses, communities, and among leaders who feel their political space is being invaded. Eventually, separate grievances converge.
That is how resistance is built.
And resistance within the Rift Valley would be particularly damaging because it would not simply be opposition from outside Ruto’s political base. It would be opposition taking shape inside the house. Mt Kenya remains an important political battlefield for Ruto. But a serious backlash in his own backyard would be more immediate, more personal, and potentially harder to contain. Home must be stabilised before you go out to fight.
The Interior docket is different
The Interior is not an ordinary political ministry.
It sits at the heart of internal security, policing and national administration. Its occupant must command confidence across political and ethnic divides.
When the Interior CS is perceived to be participating in political competition, every decision becomes vulnerable to political interpretation.
Security deployments become political.
Administrative appointments become political.
Government warnings become political.
Even legitimate security operations risk being viewed through a partisan lens.
That is dangerous for the country. National security should be guided by intelligence, evidence, and genuine threats—not political optics or “catch-up politics.”
The state should be fighting terrorism, organised crime, banditry, communal conflict, and other threats to public safety—not political narratives. The same principle applies to allegations of misconduct within the police service. Abuse of office should be investigated as professional misconduct, corruption, or abuse of power—not ethnicised or tribalised.
A corrupt officer does not become acceptable because he comes from our community.
An honest officer does not become suspect because of his ethnicity.
The police officer belongs to the Constitution—not to a tribe or political patron.
And Gachagua benefits
This is where Rigathi Gachagua enters the equation.
Every time government is perceived as arrogant or politically dismissive, Gachagua gains another talking point.
Every time established leaders feel threatened, he gains potential allies.
Every time communities believe state machinery is being used to influence their political future, he gains another grievance around which to organise.
You cannot keep giving your opponent ammunition and then complain that he has become dangerous.
Gachagua does not necessarily need to defeat the government on policy if the government keeps creating political grievances for him to organise.
Ruto has a decision to make
Murkomen may be a formidable political operator and loyalist. But political skill alone does not make someone the right person for the Interior docket. If his greatest strength is political mobilisation, perhaps a docket such as labour, public service, gender, or sports would provide greater room for that energy without placing the neutrality of the national security machinery under constant scrutiny.
The interior needs a referee—not another player on the pitch. President Ruto should therefore ask himself one uncomfortable question:
Who around me is strengthening my re-election prospects—and who is quietly building the resistance that could defeat me?
Presidents do not always lose elections because their opponents become stronger.
Sometimes they lose because their own political decisions create too many enemies.
The president can command the machinery of government.
He can appoint.
He can reshuffle.
He can dismiss.
But there is one thing he cannot appoint or dismiss:
The electorate
The State can command administrators.
It can deploy security agencies.
It cannot command the ballot.
President, before you go out to fight the opposition, stabilise the house.
Because when the referee becomes a player, the stadium eventually stops trusting the game.
And when citizens stop trusting the referee, the political consequences can be far greater than the referee ever imagined.
The Interior Ministry should be Kenya’s security shield—not a political battlefield.
Governments come and go.
Institutions must remain.
The author is Kimutai Kirui, a Kenyan political analyst and human rights activist known for his work in Uasin Gishu County, where he has championed justice in cases ranging from police brutality to land disputes affecting widows.
Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the editorial position of news9.africa.
Discussion about this post