A section of Mt Kenya leaders, including seven governors and a Cabinet secretary, have proposed that the region fronts a presidential candidate in the 2022 General Election.
Citing its high number of voters, they stated that there is no political deal or agreement anywhere limiting the region to a presidential running mate next year or not fielding one at all, adding that they would stick together and speak in one voice.
Mt Kenya has been politically restless, with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s stranglehold on the region's politics leaving no room for a possible heir apparent.
Out of the meeting, it also emerged that the next few months would be decisive for the President in firming up national succession plans and strengthening his grip on Mt Kenya.
The leaders spoke at Lusoi Lodge in Nyeri County on Saturday during a meeting to plot President Kenyatta’s succession and to unite his supporters amid the vicious power struggle climaxing in Mt Kenya.
They were emphatic that the people of Mt Kenya must be allowed to exercise their democratic right to elect the leaders they want and no one should be imposed on them.
Their assertion is a contradiction to President Kenyatta, who in January hinted at the possibility of backing his successor from outside the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities.
However, while their proposal has the potential of causing sharp political divisions across the country as the region has produced three of the country’s four presidents, the group which also included former MPs and aspirants as well as elders, said they will be meeting to increase their bargaining power in the 2022 arithmetic.
Those present included Governors Mwangi Wairia (Murang’a), Ndiritu Muriithi (Laikipia), Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga), Martin Wambora (Embu), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua) and Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri). Kiambu’s James Nyoro sent apologies.
Also present were Agriculture CS Peter Munya, former Kiambu governor William Kabogo, MPs Kanini Kega (Kieni), Jude Jomo (Kiambu Town) and James Gichuki (Othaya).
The announcement promises to change the course of the country’s politics in the next few days. The leaders vowed not to allow anyone to divide the region, and warned that their numbers should not be taken for granted by those seeking higher offices next year.
They agreed that the region’s leaders should be free to compete against other candidates and that the next President should be elected on the basis of the agenda he will sell to Kenyans.
“We shall reach out to our brothers and sisters so that we can have a complete team and approach the next election based on our interests as Mt Kenya. Those from the region with political ambitions, there is no crime we encourage you. Go out there, speak your policies and agenda so that we will pick the best of whoever comes after that,” read a resolution announced by Governor Kinyanjui.
Mr Munya said talks around the transition of the region’s leadership is a live debate and the meeting was the beginning of a journey to consolidate its votes in readiness for next year’s polls, revealing that there will be a follow up meeting in Meru.
The CS, who downplayed the reported crack despite the absence of leaders from Meru and Tharaka-Nithi in the Nyeri meeting, said there was consensus that they have to remain united to benefit from the next political dispensation.
Mr Munya said the assumption of office of Chief Justice by Mrs Martha Koome completes the triumvirate leadership of the three arms of government; the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary by Mt Kenya communities.
“We must be in the next government. We will not be pushed to the Opposition and we must avoid any form of division that is likely to push us that way. The right time will come and we will sit down and agree who amongst us is best suited to lead us,” he said.
Governor Kimemia, who is also the Central Region Economic Bloc (CEREB) chairperson, noted Mt Kenya has become the magnet of presidential suitors.
“There’s a campaign to embarrass the President but in the real sense, it is us who support him that are going to lose politically. This is the beginning of a plan of how we will be in the next government because it is not a joking matter,” he said.
Mr Kabogo, whose name has featured in the long list of names being touted as possible successor to President Kenyatta, said “a big river cannot drain into a tributary”.
