RICHIE GITHATU · 2027 GOVERNORNakuru Kwetu · New GenerationYour voice. Your power.

FROM THE CAMPAIGN

What is happening
in Nakuru.

Five recent moments — a frontline look at the KNH cardiac surgery camp, trees being cut down on a busy Nakuru street, a community engagement with Wanavijiji, a Sunday word, and a birthday — from the trail of Richie Githatu's 2027 campaign.

THIS WEEK

Five recent moments
from the trail.

One hospital, one street, one cooperative, one word, one birthday. Updated as the campaign moves through Nakuru County.

HEALTH · 21 SEP 2026 · KNH & KIHF21SEP 2026

Kenyatta National Hospital hosts a 10-day Specialist Cardiac Surgery Camp with Kibos International Health Foundation.

From 20–30 September 2026, a visiting team of cardiac surgeons and cardiologists from Japan, the US, Canada, Sweden and the UAE — led by Professor Hiroshi Niinami of Tokyo Women's Medical University — will perform open-heart and other cardiac surgeries at KNH in partnership with the Kibos International Health Foundation (KIHF).

Dr. Gladys Njihia, Cardiologist and Head of Cardiology at KNH, on the mission · filmed around the hospital grounds
This is the first of many such collaborations. We want to build the skills of our own cardiac surgeons and cardiologists so we can keep offering this care.— Dr. Gladys Njihia

What the mission covers:

  • Procedures: bypass surgery and heart valve repair or replacement.
  • Cost: World-class care “quite affordable” for patients enrolled in SHA (Social Health Authority) — the government insurance scheme. (The Standard reports the camp as free; confirm eligibility directly with KNH cardiology.)
  • Coordination: cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, perfusionists, laboratory, blood transfusion unit, and radiology — each team aligned through extensive pre-mission planning.
  • Long-term aim: ongoing partnership with KIHF so KNH builds sustainable local capacity for advanced cardiovascular care.

If you or someone you know may be eligible, contact KNH's Cardiology Department directly to confirm enrollment and next steps. This is the kind of specialist care that should be available in every county — not only when a visiting mission arrives.

Read the health agenda for Nakuru →
FIELD · 20 SEP 2026 · THE GREEN CITY20SEP 2026

The trees are coming down on a busy Nakuru street.
Who is signing the permits?

A 1:24 vlog from the trail — trees being cut down along a popular Nakuru street, a fresh tree trunk broken off the stump, and a concrete hoarding that reads “NO HAWKERS.” Below it, a 2026-built structure is going up where the avenue used to be.

Selfie vlog, 20 Sep 2026 · vertical phone footage from the trail
So we're here in Nakuru, on a very popular street … This is what's happening … it's truly unfortunate. What made this street beautiful is … basically, being in Nakuru was all about the trees, and the beauty, and the greenness of the county. Basically, this is what's happening in Nakuru … what we're missing … guys are cutting down trees to make for construction. So what does this all mean? Something that was a proud thing in Nakuru, which is our Green City, slowly turning into stuff being made for these guys. That's what's happening right now. Now is the time to act. It's already almost too late.So if we don't act now, the situation's only gonna get worse.

“Nakuru — the Green City.” That is how the county has been marketed for decades: on billboards, on tourism brochures, on rally podiums. The trees on this avenue — and on hundreds of streets like it — were not ornamental. They were shade, they were air, they were the reason Nakuru sat comfortably in climate books. They were a public good.

Under the outgoing governor, that public good is being quietly auctioned. Trees that took forty years to grow are being knocked down in a single afternoon so a perimeter wall can sit a metre closer to the road. The hoarding is already going up — blue, steel, “NO HAWKERS” — and behind it, the rebar is already climbing. No public participation notice. No Environment Impact Assessment report on the website. No replanting commitment. Just stumps, sawdust, and silence.

What needs to happen now:

  • County government — publish the list of streets where trees have been felled in the last 24 months, with permits, project names, and the replanting commitments attached to each one.
  • NEMA — audit the avenuetrees and concrete-hoarding projects before the next rainy season; any developer removing a mature tree without a 1-for-10 replanting guarantee should be required to replant on the same verge before the foundation closes.
  • Residents — photograph every stump on your street, share it with the county environment office and with us, and ask for the permit number attached to the felling.
  • Ward representatives — demand a public hearing before any further felling in your ward. Nakuru's Tree-Planting & Beautification Act must not be remembered only at election time.

A county administration that loses its trees in its last term cannot ask the next generation to plant them. The Green City cannot be rebuilt in a single rainy season after a decade of chainsaws. The outgoing governor is signing off on a Nakuru we do not want our children to inherit.

The video is — by Richie's own admission — rough: phone footage, no studio, captions and all. But the stumps in frame are not rough. They are what Nakuru is becoming under the watch of a governor who will leave office knowing exactly what his last term took from this county.

Read the agenda for a green Nakuru →
ENGAGEMENT · 17 SEP 2026 · WANAVIJIJI17SEP 2026
Richie Githatu with Wanavijiji Housing Cooperative Society members during a solidarity engagement in Nakuru

With Wanavijiji Housing Cooperative, bringing warmth where it is needed most.

Nakuru Wanavijiji Housing Cooperative Society hosted Richie at a community engagement where 30 needy members received blankets — and the host took time to walk through one member group and the housing construction site.

Today, Nakuru Wanavijiji Housing Cooperative Society was honoured to host Richard Githatu of Nakuru Ni Yetu, a gubernatorial aspirant, in a meaningful engagement with our community.

As a gesture of solidarity and compassion, Mr. Githatu donated blankets to 30 needy Wanavijiji members, bringing warmth, hope and encouragement to families in need.

He also had an opportunity to visit one of our members' groups, engage with the community, and later tour our housing construction site. He was impressed by what Wanavijiji members are achieving through unity, commitment, savings and collective action.

“Our journey is a powerful reminder that when ordinary people come together with a shared vision, they can create extraordinary change. From saving together to building homes together, Wanavijiji continues to demonstrate that community power can transform lives and restore dignity.”

The cooperative is now asking for the next layer of support: building materials and mattresses. That call sits under Jawabu Kenya — see the ADOPT-A-STUDENT · Jawabu Kenya page for how to contribute.

See more updates from the campaign →
SUNDAY · A MESSAGE14SEP 2026
Richie Githatu recording a Sunday word for the campaign

A Sunday word
from Richie.

A quieter word from the trail — sent weeks after the 30th-birthday homecoming, and pointed at the same truth.

Sunday is the day the little things get loud. Family. The neighbour who waves. The student still walking to class even though this month is tight. ADOPT-A-STUDENT. Give today. Every child deserves education — and every shilling from many people is the path that gets us there.

It was sent on a Sunday afternoon, no cameras, no stage. Just a phone, a quiet room, and a reminder that the work keeps moving when the weekend begins.

Stand with a student today →
EVENT · 18 AUG 2026 · TURNING 3018AUG 2026
Richie Githatu celebrating his 30th birthday with the community

Thirty, in community.
Richie's birthday in Nakuru.

Three decades shaped by Nakuru, marked by the people who shaped them.

The cake was small. The room was not. On 18 August 2026, Richie Githatu turned 30 — not as a campaign moment, but as a homecoming. Family from the wider county, neighbours from his childhood ward, teachers who stayed, students still walking to class. The morning was short and the table was full.

I am thirty because of you. Now I want to make sure that the next thirty years of this county belong to the same kind of people who raised me.

Three weeks later, the Sunday word above followed.

Meet Richie Githatu →

Older updates from the campaign archive will return here as the trail goes on. In the meantime, follow along on socials.

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