Speaking during a recent gathering Kihara reminded Ruto that the very same leaders he now insults stood with him when it mattered most.
“Stop fighting and insulting Uhuru and Gachagua, calling them tribal,” she fired back.
“When they supported you, you were not Kamau and they knew you were a Kalenjin!”
The pointed remark cuts deep into Ruto’s political history while during his years as deputy president under Uhuru Ruto enjoyed massive backing from Central Kenya a region predominantly associated with the Kikuyu community where names like Kamau are common.
Kihara’s message is clear back then no one accused Ruto of being a tribal outsider.
They embraced him as a national leader despite his Kalenjin identity and now with the political landscape fractured.
Ruto has increasingly targeted both Uhuru and his estranged deputy Gachagua accusing them of stoking ethnic divisions.
But Kihara argues the president is rewriting history, “They knew exactly who you were,” she insisted implying that Ruto’s current tribal accusations are nothing but a convenient political weapon.
The former lawmaker’s outburst reflects growing anger from the Mt Kenya region which feels betrayed by a president they once rallied behind.
By using the name Kamau a quintessential Kikuyu reference Kihara drove home the irony of Ruto now crying tribalism after benefiting from cross-ethnic solidarity for years.
Her message was short but devastating, you cannot accept support from a community then later label its leaders tribal simply because politics has turned sour.
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