Kiunjuri deeply in Tangatanga, says Nyeri MP Wambugu

Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri is a member of the Tangatanga faction of Jubilee politicians allied to Deputy President William Ruto, Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu has said.

Wambugu was responding to Kiunjuri after the CS complained that no action had been taken against youths who disrupted his meeting in Nyeri town.

Supporters of the two leaders engaged in a confrontation on June 29 when the CS visited Gatitu shopping centre to launch the Sh262 million Riamukurwe water project.

The CS said the fracas occurred despite the fact that he was not in Nyeri in a personal capacity but as a minister of the government.

“If a minister of government can be attacked, that means directly the government was under attack,” Kiunjuri said.

Kiunjuri spoke at Matanya Catholic Church in Laikipia Central during a fundraiser.

But Wambugu, on his facebook page, said that Kiunjuri ceased to be a CS and became a politician when he took over the master of ceremonies role. 

“You were in Nyeri as a minister up to and until the point you officially launched the Riagamuru (Riamukurwe, Gatitu and Muruguru)  project - laid the pipes and unveiled the signage,” wrote the MP.

The MP said the CS even tried to stop him from speaking despite having mobilised the public to attend the event, paying for the tents, chairs and public address system.

Wambugu also took issue with the CS for not recognising the chairman of the National Irrigation Board Joshua Toro and denying him a chance to address the public.

The water project is being funded by NIB.

The MP said the CS lied that he was attacked saying residents refused to listen to the politicking leaders who accompanied Kiunjuri. 

“You and I know that what happened was that locals refused to allow anyone to do politics with such an important project that had taken 15 years to get here,” Wambugu said.

Wambugu said that he told Kiunjuri not to politicise the event before inviting him back to the podium to speak on the project.

“When you came back and spoke exclusively on the project, people listened without interruption,” he said. 

The legislator said that the CS’s efforts to incite security forces against the youth in Nyeri by profiling them as ‘Mungiki’ were despicable. 

Wambugu said that the government understood that Kiunjuri was acting as a politician and not as a CS. 

He accused the CS of positioning himself to be Ruto’s running mate in 2022.

Kiunjuri and other politicians present at the Nyeri event insist that the people who disrupted the meeting were members of the outlawed Mungiki sect hired by Wambugu.

Wambugu has denied both claims.

(edited by O. Owino)