Moses Kuria, President William Ruto’s senior adviser on the Council of Economic Advisors, has spoken about how he knew his bid for the gubernatorial seat had failed during the 2022 elections.
The realisation came unexpectedly after results from a single polling station, one he had always trusted, showed a surprisingly low vote count.
Speaking at a service held at PCEA Kanjai in Kiambu on Sunday, June 29, 2025, Kuria recounted the challenges he faced during that period, revealing that his political journey was fraught with difficulties, even from members of his party.
He disclosed that the campaign season was so intense that some fellow party members from the region once barred him from speaking alongside them at a rally.
“I came here to seek governor votes, and I remember Wamuchomba and Karungo wa Thang’wa making me flee one day during campaigns, even though we were in the same party,” Kuria recounted, highlighting the internal struggles he had to overcome.
It was on that note that he recalled how they finally reached the ballot and how tension gradually mounted as votes were being tallied.
However, unlike most candidates who often wait until the final results to concede defeat, his moment of clarity arrived sooner than anticipated.
Kuria revealed that he was with family when the gubernatorial results started coming in. It was then he learnt he had only eight votes at Nyaga Primary polling station, a place he had expected to lead, and that is when he realised he had lost.
“And when votes were counted, let me tell you, sometimes someone agrees they have been defeated when the votes have been tallied almost to the end, but when they were tallied and it got to governor after president and such, I only agreed after I heard of one polling station’s results. Only one. I was with family at that time, and I heard that the governor’s votes had started to be tallied. I only accepted that I had lost after I heard the results from one polling station. It was Stream Number 3, Nyaga Primary — an area I had faith in — and I had only eight votes. That shocked me.”
Kuria revealed that after receiving those results, he turned to his Facebook page to update his followers, adding that he immediately began planning other income-generating activities, certain that he had already lost the race.
Young activist
Kuria’s revelation comes just a week after he reflected on his own experience as a young activist during the historic Saba Saba protests of the 1990s.
Speaking during an interview with a local media station on June 22, 2025, Kuria reflected on Kenya’s dark days of political repression, cautioning that employing goons could lead the country down a perilous path towards conflict.
“This use of goons sounds sweet. You know, you feel like you are on top of the world. But it will catch up with you. The same goons will catch up with you,” Kuria warned.
Kuria attributed his insights to his involvement in the Saba Saba protests when he was just 19 years old, highlighting that this background gives him a unique perspective on the threats posed by political violence.
“As a 19-year-old, I was on the streets during Saba Saba. So it’s a territory I know too well. And it worries me when I see us crosing some lines there,” he said.
He noted that the goon phenomenon appears concentrated in Nairobi and the Mt Kenya region, questioning why such activities are not occurring in other parts of the country, like Kakamega.
“I decry because I never imagined I would live to see a situation whereby my own people, my own community, this side has goons, the other side has goons. Then what?” he lamented.
Kuria made reference to Rwanda’s genocide, warning that political violence can escalate gradually before reaching catastrophic levels.
“Rwanda did not wake up one day and wake up to genocide. It is a buildup of things,” he cautioned.
