Gideon Moi Declares Rift Valley Political Battle With President Ruto

KANU chairman Gideon Moi told KANU officials and opinion leaders at his Kabarak home in Nakuru on Friday, October 23, 2026 that he is entering a political battle with President William Ruto for control of the Rift Valley region.

Moi said the president’s administration had provoked him over the past year with unfulfilled promises, personal insults, the abduction of a key staff member and the forceful occupation of a five-acre family plot near Eldoret by armed police officers without an eviction notice, according to the family’s lawyer.

He apologised to residents of Baringo County for withdrawing from the November 2025 senatorial by-election after meeting Ruto at State House on October 9, 2025 and again at Kabarak on October 10, saying he had trusted the president’s assurances that stalled roads and dam projects would be completed.

Moi’s withdrawal cleared the way for United Democratic Alliance candidate Vincent Kiprono Chemitei to win the November 27, 2025 by-election with about 55,000 to 56,000 votes, defeating Republican Liberal Party candidate David Kipruto who received roughly 13,000 votes.

The political truce collapsed after a public dispute over the Standard Group in June 2026, when Ruto posted on X that the media house was using negative coverage to pressure his administration and wrote “Blackmail to yield to your greed? Never,” also later accusing Moi of “extortion gangsterism driven by greed” through “unpaid labour slaving.”

Moi responded that the Moi family are not the only shareholders in the Standard Group and that the government owes the media house KSh1.2 billion, while reiterating that the occupation of the Eldoret plot was unjustified.

He indicated he will chart an independent political path ahead of the 2027 General Election, without revealing which party or alliance he may join or whether he will contest an elective seat.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission released new voter registration figures showing the Rift Valley added 671,958 newly registered voters, the highest number of any region, nearly double the 399,220 new registrations recorded in Central, with Nyanza at 278,185 and Nairobi at 276,886.