Politics in Kiambu County has entered an unusually heated phase, with an intense rivalry between Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a and Governor Kimani Wamatangi playing out long before the official 2027 campaign season begins.

What is striking is not just the ambition of the two leaders to occupy the county’s top seat, but the arenas in which their contest is unfolding — development functions, public rallies and, most controversially, church services — sometimes in the presence of President William Ruto.