Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja has left the United Democratic Alliance and will run for Nakuru governor in the 2027 General Election on a Democracy for the Citizens Party ticket, she announced on Friday, October 9.

Karanja said residents she consulted had asked her to seek the county’s top seat, and that she had settled on DCP for the contest. She framed her exit from the ruling party as a response to voters rather than a party decision, telling the forum that it was the electorate, not UDA, that had put her in the Senate.

She said she now identifies with the colour green, which she described as a signal of her new political direction. “From today I will vie for that seat under DCP,” she said at the event in Nakuru County.

The senator criticised the administration of President William Ruto, saying Kenyans had held high expectations when they elected the government but that those expectations had not been met. She said she had listened to people on the ground and that the message was that the government had fallen short. She also questioned the President’s understanding of household economic pressures, citing the recent rise in milk prices as an example.

Karanja joined UDA in January 2022 and won the Nakuru senatorial seat on its ticket in the August 2022 General Election.

Her announcement came a day after Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba said she was quitting UDA. Wamuchomba said she would neither seek an elective seat nor campaign for the party, attributing the decision to what she described as a lack of respect for other communities among some ruling party leaders. She singled out Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale over remarks she said targeted the Mount Kenya community.

Both departures come as leaders weigh their party positions ahead of the 2027 elections. DCP MPs escorted Ol Kalou MP Sammy Waweru to Parliament on July 28 for his first day in the House.

It was not immediately clear whether Karanja has written formally to UDA to resign, or whether DCP has confirmed her as a member or adopted her as its Nakuru governor candidate. The exact venue and audience of Friday’s forum were not specified, and the account of her remarks did not state whether her Senate seat is affected.