Former President Mwai Kibaki and Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.

📋 Breaking It Down

During the disputed 2007 presidential election, present-day Tharaka Nithi County shot into the limelight when one constituency delivered a decisive vote for Kenya’s third President, Mwai Kibaki (Party of National Unity), who was neck and neck with Orange Democratic Movement’s Raila Odinga.

After nearly all votes had been tallied, an avalanche of over 90,000 ballots came in from the constituency, tilting the scale in favour of Mr Kibaki.

The constituency was then known as Nithi, which was split into Chuka/Igambang’ombe and Maara after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.

📌 What You Need to Know

The 95,693 votes from Nithi accounted for 78.8 per cent of cast votes in a constituency which had 123,996 registered voters, with claims that the constituency cast an additional 31,567 votes for Mr Kibaki, who won with 4,584,721 votes against Mr Odinga’s 4,352,993 votes.

From left: Opposition leader Raila Odinga, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan President Mwai Kibaki during negotiations to end the 2007 political stalemate. FILE PHOTO | REUTERS | NOOR KHAMIS

The election sparked controversy, resulting in the 2007/2008 post-election violence in which at least 1,100 people were killed while over 600,000 were displaced.

Twenty years later, ahead of a crucial General Election and with political temperatures already rising, Tharaka Nithi is in the eye of a storm, and Deputy President Kithure Kindiki is the focal point.

With a vicious fight for control of the huge Mt Kenya voting bloc, Tharaka Nithi is once again the powerhouse in the country’s political matrix, with Dr Ruto’s choice of running mate likely to be a major factor in the outcome of the August 10, 2027, presidential election.

ODM, now led by Mr Odinga’s brother, Dr Oburu Oginga, has laid claim to the running mate position as it enters into a pre-election pact with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), sparking a storm, with local leaders declaring that Prof Kindiki will not move an inch.

📰 Source: Nation Africa