Peter Munya, Governor Meru : “I was called upon by aggrieved APK party delegates to run for the presidency in 2022. For now I am interested in being the governor and getting re-elected in 2017.”
It is always assumed that Meru Governor Peter Munya’s election rode on the Alliance Party of Kenya’s popularity, or ‘the Mbus’, of which Senator Kiraitu Murungi was the driver.
After Kiraitu and other top leaders decided to have the party dissolved to join the Jubilee Alliance Party, Munya decided to take a turn back and shared a different opinion of merging the parties.
The two key leaders have been throwing tantrums, with Kiraitu accusing Munya of turning against him and leaving him out of the Meru county development agenda.
But Munya dismissively disputes this.
“The truth is I have always involved him,” he says of Kiraitu’s claims.
“We have had close consultations, I go out of my way to explain to him what is going on. I discuss with him all the programmes we undertake and his connotation that he has not been engaged is not right.”
Munya disputes that Kiraitu is his political mentor as frequently claimed.
He discloses that his real political mentor is the 1997 presidential candidate from the region, the late Godfrey Mwereria, whom he vigorously campaigned for.
It is from that campaign that today’s Council of Governors’ chairman learnt an important political lesson.
This lesson was concerning “how not to win an election”, arising from the gaps and managerial failures he saw in the campaign.
In Munya’s recollection, these are the factors which cost Mwereria the presidency.
It is these lessons that catapulted him into Parliament in 2002, on his first attempt at elective politics.
Being a self-made politician, Munya took the advantages that worked in his interest while with Kiraitu and won the gubernatorial seat, probably sailing on Kiraitu’s ignorance.
“I was called upon by aggrieved APK party delegates to run for the presidency in 2022 and I will take that challenge. For now I am interested in being the governor and getting re-elected in 2017.”, says Munya.
He describes his efforts of developing Meru as a success.
He has set up county government structures that did not exist before, despite the many challenges he has had to endure, including persistent opposition from Meru MPs.
“In a county where there are few resources and many needs, there are always challenges and competing needs. What you look at are the priorities and what will have more impact in the form of service delivery. We have been trying and struggling in putting up systems to ensure that everything is done properly”, he says.
In five minutes
Law lecturer who has found success in politics
1969: He was born in Muthara, in present-day Tigania East sub county, the first-born in the family.
1990: University of Nairobi, Bachelor of Law degree, graduated in 1993. While at the University, he was elected twice as chairman of the Kenya Law Students Society (KLLS) between the years 1992 and 1993.
1995: University of Brussels, Master’s of Law degree, International Law
1996: University of Georgia, USA, Master’s degree in Law, majoring in Public International Law.
1998: Taught law at Kenya School of Professional Studies
2000: Moi University, lecturer of Law
2002: Resigned from Moi University to set up Kimaiyo and Munya Advocates. In the same year he ran for Tigania East MP seat on the Safina ticket. He won.
2007: Re-elected Tigania East MP on the PNU ticket.
2013: Elected Governor of Meru county on the APK ticket.
Quotes
2015: “What we are not going to continue entertaining is the condescending attitude that the Cabinet Secretary has adopted. He needs to understand that he is not in charge of health in the counties, neither is he a supervisor of county government and we do not need his opinion or advice,” he said accusing the government of interfering in the management of health sector.
2015: We will not be distracted. We are focused in delivering our mandate. I looked for my own votes and when the right time comes, I will go back to the people.”
2016: “I have the right to join any political party I want. No one will coerce me in joining a particular party. Let it be known in 2017 will vie on another party and not JP,” when he stormed out of a meeting presided by Deputy President William Ruto after rejecting calls for the dissolution of APK.