Kikuyu elders pray facing Mt Kenya, tell leaders not to abandon Uhuru

The Kikuyu Council of Elders on Thursday took a train trip from Nairobi to Nanyuki via the newly rehabilitated meter-gauge railway line and held special New Year’s Day prayers at the Nanyuki terminus at the end of the trip.

Led by their secretary general, Mr Peter Munga, the elders faced Mt Kenya and prayed for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration and the nation.

“We are excited to have travelled on a train along this route. We thank the President for remembering our region with this infrastructural upgrade,” Mr Munga said.

The elders took issue with nominated MP Isaac Mwaura and former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko for their “defection” from the ruling Jubilee Party.

The duo have thrown their weight behind Deputy President William Ruto and the loose political grouping, dubbed “hustler nation”, that backs his presidential ambitions. The council’s national chairman, Mr Wachira Kiago, Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni and Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi termed the two leaders ungrateful. They appealed to the leaders to accord the President respect and avoid insulting at him.

Careers at risk

Mr Kioni warned that attacking Mr Kenyatta would only ruin the political careers of Mr Sonko and Mr Mwaura.

“Don’t just jump into other people’s cooking pots. You will get burnt and come back to us begging for treatment. No one should forget where they came from,” Mr Kioni said. He noted that the elders will continue holding talks with the leaders of other communities to foster peace and unity in the country.

“We will soon have a sitting with elders from the Kalenjin community so that we can speak in one voice ahead of 2022. We have no time for insults,” Mr Kioni said.

Mr Muriithi called on leaders to rally behind the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), championed by President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

“We don’t need insults among our leaders yet we can sit down and iron out our issues. You don’t have to insult your fellow leader just because of BBI. Let us embrace this document for the interests of our people,” the Governor said. Mr Kiago appealed to leaders to support the Head of State in fulfilling his development agenda before he leaves power next year.

“I urge leaders from our community who have gone astray to come back home and allow us to walk this journey together. You will talk bad about the President but he will still remain the best leader Kenya has ever had,” the Council's chairman said.

“As a community, we are the ones who will benefit more if BBI sails through,” he added.

Dynasties

Recently, Mr Mwaura said Mr Kenyatta, Mr Daniel Moi and Jaramogi Odinga’s family had over the years strived to cling on to power, elbowing our other Kenyans from clinching top leadership positions.

“As sons and daughters of peasants, we must be respected by the dynasties. We were also born, same as they were. I am officially a member of the Hustler Nation,” Mr Mwaura said during the homecoming party of Msambweni MP Feisal Bader, an ally of Dr Ruto.

Mr Sonko accused the President of frustrating and abandoning him even after rigorously campaigning for him in 2013 and 2017.

“I was impeached because the former leaders of this country did not know my father. Dictators have teamed up to ensure that one of them ascend to the presidency,” Mr Sonko said.