Speaking to the press in Naivasha on Saturday, Kihara claimed the two leaders were deliberately pushing an anti-Kikuyu narrative, which she said threatens national cohesion.
She criticised what she termed President Ruto’s “reckless” remarks about the Mt Kenya region, arguing that voters from the area supported him in 2022 and have a right to hold him accountable over unfulfilled pledges.
“He made commitments during the 2022 campaigns and many of those commitments remain unfulfilled and the people have every right to hold him accountable, and he cannot respond by weaponising ethnicity against them,” Kihara said.
The lawmaker also dismissed claims that former President Mwai Kibaki introduced tribalism in government, calling them baseless.
Kihara further faulted leaders from the Mt Kenya region serving in government for what she described as silence in the face of hate speech, and claimed the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) lacked capacity due to an insufficient number of commissioners.
She also alleged that the recent wave of demonstrations in parts of the Mt Kenya region following fuel price increases — during which businesses were torched and property destroyed — was sponsored to portray the Kikuyu community negatively.
Kihara insisted voters would not be swayed by ethnic politics, saying Kenyans are more informed and can see through manipulation.
