President William Ruto is making a return to the Mt Kenya region, his stomping ground during the 2022 presidential election campaigns. But the region has clearly undergone a sea change in the past two years.

Increasingly, it seems that the political terrain he once easily trod may no longer be as firm beneath his feet as it once was.

As he embarks on a tour aimed at regaining his political grip on the region, an unlikely figure has emerged at the center of preparations for the President’s arrival – former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga.