Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe has asked Luhya leaders eyeing the presidency to provide political direction to the community.
Wangwe said ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya should stop keeping the community in suspense on the road map to the 2022 succession race.
“Every community is rallying behind their respective leaders but Luhyas are at a crossroads because they lack a clear political direction. When others are on the table negotiating, we’re nowhere. Our senior politicians must show the way by providing leadership,” he said.
Wangwe spoke during the burial of his uncle Francis Oluta in Navakholo on Saturday.
Mudavadi, Wetang’ula and Oparanya have declared they will vie for the presidency come 2022. They have however failed to unite, leaving the community in confusion.
Attempts to collapse ANC and Ford Kenya into a single entity capable of pooling the populous Luhya vote bloc in 2022 stalled on suspicions that Ford Kenya had been infiltrated by Deputy President William Ruto.
Wangwe said Luhya MPs were ready to offer required support to the leaders by rallying the people behind them.
Wangwe who has associated with DP William Ruto since his election last week appeared to make an about-turn by dissociating himself with Tangatanga and Kieleweke teams.
“I am neither in Tangatanga nor Kieleweke teams as they are meant for nominated MPs,” he said.
Wangwe on Saturday said the community was in trouble unless the three leaders agreed to swallow their pride and back one among them to go to the negotiating table.
“Accepting to support another person does not make anyone lesser to the other. Leadership is about serving aspirations of the people as opposed to personal interest,” he said.
The MP said failure by top Luhya leaders to unite has in the past created space for “outsiders” to take control of the community.
He said although Luhyas as a community were united, the demeanor of top leaders from the region cast it as a divided house because of their pursuit of personal interest.
He said the perceived disunity makes the Luhya community unattractive to other regions in negotiating national leadership.
