Kahiga has been strongly condemned over remarks on Tuesday, where he appeared to celebrate the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
During a funeral in Nyeri, Kahiga claimed that the political arrangement between President William Ruto and Raila Odinga had shifted government development priorities toward the Nyanza region, denying Mt. Kenya a share of government resources.
In a press address on Wednesday, Kahiga apologised for the comments and tendered resignation from the COG position.
“I want to apologize to the family, the larger ODM, my colleagues and those in the larger Nyanza region,” adding, “my remarks are personal, and not those of the people of Nyeri and the Council of Governors.”
“I am taking responsibility and resigning with immediate effect as the vice chair of the Council of Governors,” stated Kahiga, who was elected vice chair of COG on October 6, 2025.
Speaking in the Kikuyu dialect, Kahiga told mourners at a funeral in Nyeri that Raila’s death had “levelled the playing field,” forcing all political players, including President William Ruto, to return to the drawing board ahead of the 2027 General Election.
According to Kahiga, that was “God’s plan for the region.”
“You guys can see, you can see what had been planned, but God brought something up. Now it’s total confusion. Everybody can see that. We did not harbor hate for anyone, but God came through for us,” said the Governor.
“Because the plan that had been hatched, if you look keenly, for you who do not travel because I was in that region, all goodies were being directed there because of tomorrow’s plans, because it seemed like they did away with us, but God came and brought this thing,” he added.
Kahiga went on to say: “So now people have been told to go back to the drawing board because the plan that was there was probably to throw us out. But who is God? Does he take ugali at somebody’s house or sleep in Kayole? He came through in his own way. He saw up there people in heaven are disagreeing a lot and came for Baba so that he can go and smooth things up there.”
Kahiga’s comments have attracted nationwide condemnation, prompting the Council of Governors to convene an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday morning.
In a statement, CoG chair Ahmed Abdullahi said the comments were “personal views that do not reflect the position of the Council.
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, who is also the chairperson of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), condemned Kahiga, terming the remarks as “primitive, insensitive, and insulting.”
Wanga accused Kahiga of long-standing ethnic profiling, particularly against the Luo community and Raila Odinga, describing his latest remarks as “a new low in our politics.”
