Politicians who thought Mt Kenya region will be united around the prospective deputy president were wrong, MPs have said.
The MPs said it has now become clearer that being a DP is not useful to the region.
Jeremiah Kioni (Ndaragwa), Ngunjiri Wambugu (Nyeri) and Kabinga Wachira spoke in Nyeri town on Sunday after attending a church service at God’s Miracles in Spirit church.
Kioni said the region looks for leadership because it believes it is a means to an end.
He added that the end it has been looking for is resources, peace and unity that will enable the region’s people to live peacefully in any part of the country.
“The mountain is still unsettled. Until we have somebody assuring us of those three issues, that unity will continue being elusive because we cannot agree to go to a negotiation unless we know that it is also clear to us in our minds that these issues are the ones leading us,” he said.
The legislator said some of those eying the presidency are not happy with what the region is seeking for and that is why they have been out dividing people.
If the BBI had prevailed, Kioni said the region would have gained Sh53 billion.
Any unity that does not guarantee the region the Sh53 billion it lost after the BBI was declared unconstitutional is a waste of time, he said.
He challenged those eying the presidency to tell the region how it will get the money adding that all the candidates who were against the BBI are unwilling to help the region get the money.
“You are the source of our disunity and I hope our colleagues will get it clearer that we need this amount of money which we lost,” Kioni said.
“So even as we are going to the 2022 election, if you are looking for unity so that you become the DP, then that is a waste of time.”
The region also wants to have the constituencies that had been proposed in the BBI and the protected ones retained.
Wambugu said Mt Kenya unity is driven by purpose and it does not unite for the sake of it.
The region has always voted as a block any time it needs to do so despite some disagreements.
“The other times we might disagree or fight but when we need to go and make a decision, we always make a decision as a block. Even now, 2022 won’t be different,” Wambugu said.
The lawmaker said that is why various formations have started to come together because the region’s 2022 agenda is common.
Kabinga on his part said it is not in the interests of people outside Mt Kenya to see the region getting back together.
“And that should be our beginning point. That whatever challenges we are coming across, are challenges we expect because whenever we plan a meeting and other regions are aware, they come up either opposing it or getting into some of us to ensure that we don’t get this unity,” he said.
He however said the community will press on until unity is achieved.
“We shall put all effort to ensure that our people, past this regime of President Uhuru Kenyatta are united.
"Whoever comes to us will finds us as one and together we shall negotiate to ensure that our economic development activities continue,” Kabinga said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
