Nyeri Governor Kahiga Resigns as CoG Vice Chair After Remarks

NAIROBI, Kenya — Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has resigned as the Vice Chairperson of the Council of Governors (COG) following a wave of nationwide condemnation ignited by highly controversial and insensitive remarks he made regarding the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The remarks, made at a funeral service in Nyeri County, caused an immediate and dramatic political backlash and required him to make an emergency apology and relinquish his leadership position at the intergovernmental body.

The stir-up was occasioned by a speech made by Governor Kahiga on Tuesday at the funeral of the mourners, who mainly spoke the Kikuyu language. In his speech, the Governor seemed to commemorate the death of the veteran politician.

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He even made the death to look like a divine intervention that was politically favorable to the Mount Kenya region. He asserted that the death had made the playing field equal and all stakeholders with a significant role in politics, including President William Ruto, had to rethink their tactics before the 2027 General Election.

Governor Kahiga proceeded to express his opinion that the political truce between President Ruto and Mr Odinga had led to an unjust change of priorities in the development of the government. He claimed that all development goodies were heading towards the Nyanza region as a guided plot, which was targeting to marginalize the interests of the Mt. Kenya region.

He told the audience that there was a plot to marginalize their area, but said that God was on their side. He has allegedly said that it was according to the plan of God to have this disruption to the region, leading to the complete disorientation of the initial political set-up. He ended his controversial words with conjectural comment, where he opined that God had called Mr Odinga to the heavenly disputed issues.

The very inflammatory wording of the remarks caused immediate and universal indignation along the political fault, especially among politicians and constituents in the Nyanza district. Wednesday morning, Governor Kahiga was forced to call an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Governors, which he had been elected to lead on October 6, 2025. The Chairperson of COG, Ahmed Abdullahi, was quick to release a statement explaining that the sentiments of Governor Kahiga were purely his personal views, not the views of the Council.

The political condemnation was headed by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which was headed by Mr Odinga. Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga who is also the chairperson of the ODM criticized the comments in the hardest language calling them primitive, insensitive and insulting. Governor Wanga, who also accused her Nyeri counterpart of an overall ethnic profiling pattern, namely, against the Luo community and Mr. Odinga, has called his recent statement a new low in our politics.

Governor Kahiga responded to the growing political pressure and public outcry by tendering his resignation with immediate effect at a press conference that he held on Wednesday. He gave an official apology and he said; I would like to apologize to the family, the greater ODM, my coworkers and to the greater Nyanza region.

By accepting full responsibility for the backlash, he pointed out that his words were purely personal views and did not reflect the official opinion of the people of Nyeri County or the Council of Governors. The resignation is a drastic and fast political turnaround of the Governor, who ended his term as a Vice Chairman of the COG just after his election.