Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Kenyatta attends the AU Joint Committee Meeting of the MVCM on the Ethiopia-Tigray Peace .
Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang'wa is leading calls for retired President Uhuru Kenyatta to be the next chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC) and not opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Mr Thang'wa is urging Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to review Mount Kenya's position on the matter and instead push for Mr Kenyatta's name for the position.
The government - normally bound by collective responsibility - has since announced its support for Mr Odinga for the post, which, if successful, will be based in Addis Ababa until 2028, one year after Kenya's 2027 general election.
Mr Thang'wa now feels that Mt. Kenya was shortchanged in its endorsement of Mr Odinga.
"I personally do not understand why we need to support this man when we have our own Mr. Kenyatta here who is also qualified... This is something we need to ask ourselves and adjust accordingly," he said.
Former Gatanga MP Mr Nduati Ngugi said "Mr Kenyatta as a former Head of State is the most qualified and should be the choice of Mt. Kenya as a matter of obvious interest".
He said the way the debate was introduced in the country was after underground lobbying and where Mr Kenyatta was deliberately left out.
"We will ask Mr. Kenyatta privately if he would have been interested. He is an open man and he will give us an honest answer. He deserves it...He would be my choice," he said.
Mr Thangwa's position reinforces a seed of rebellion in Mt. Kenya that has been trying to sprout but President William Ruto and Gachagua are moving in to keep it under the ground.
There are reports that some power brokers in the government suggested Mr. Kenyatta's name instead. It didn't gain much traction, we hear.
Kirinyaga County Jubilee chairman Muriithi Kang'ara told Nation. Africa that Mr. Thang'wa was making sense in his debate.
"We saw it the other day when the slots for the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) were up for grabs and the president's loyalists floated names that were against the interests of Mt. Kenya. Mr. Gachagua managed to turn the names around and pushed those from the Mt. Kenya region... Politics is all about pulling the rug to your side," he said.
However, he said both Mr. Odinga and Mr. Kenyatta were qualified for the position and since both were pedigreed statesmen and patriots, "anybody can do it".
Murang'a Senator Joe Nyutu said "it is very tempting to state unequivocally my total support for Mr Kenyatta but it seems we must be bound by collective responsibility where we must go by the call of our national leader".
Mr Nyutu said "the two are giants in the global spectrum and the principle of crying for one's own will see me supporting Mr Kenyatta but unfortunately this is an issue that demands unanimity of thought hence if it is Mr. Odinga who is to sail through, let it be so".
Kirinyaga MP Ms Njeri Maina said "in that order, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga are qualified".
She added that "only that it is Mr. Odinga who has applied, so the only name we have to rightly support...as long as it is a Kenyan who will take it, we are good".
The chairman of the Kikuyu Council of Elders, Mr Wachira Kiago, said "from where I stand, I would support Mr Kenyatta but that is not all there is...we need to be more pragmatic in choosing our positions".
He said "Mr Odinga should be rewarded by being helped to win the seat he contested...since our Kenyatta did not contest".
He said at 79, Mr Odinga deserves the seat more than Kenyatta who is only 63, "our son has a lot of opportunities ahead of him, age is on his side".
He said "we should not be so sadistic as to exclude Mr Odinga from the ballot and follow him to the African Union Commission to block his moment of triumph".
He urged the Mt. Kenya region "to be humane enough and reward Mr Odinga with the support he needs in his sunset career of serving the country in its democratic and economic fronts".
For Public Service CS Moses Kuria, the debate about Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga for the seat is not valid.
"Mr Odinga is a Kenyan. He should get this position... It adds numbers to our pride. Once he succeeds, he will help us put our flag on the continental and global map. He beautifies the image of our country in a broader and inclusive way," he said.
Mr Kuria said, "With Mr. Odinga in the position, he will unite the country and increase its pride...that is why even if the names are proposed a hundred times, I would choose Mr Odinga in all cases.
