The Service Party will decided on who to back in the 2022 presidential elections by the end of March this year, party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri has said.
Kiunjuri said by March, all parties will have picked their presidential candidates making it easy for the party to support one.
He spoke during the burial of John Gaitho at Karundu in Mukurwe-ini, Nyeri county on Friday.
He however said they will go for the person who will assure them that he will take care of the interests of Mt Kenya region’s people.
The candidate should assure the people of equal representation, equitable distribution of resources and the safety of the region’s people and their businesses and property wherever they are.
Kiunjuri said there are only two months remaining to make decisions and that those contesting will have made their formations.
“For those going for coalitions, the coalitions must be completed by March. And again the law (Political Parties Act) will be in place,” he said.
The Bill was passed in Parliament and is now in the Senate, with Kiunjuri expressing hope that by mid-February, the law will have been passed.
There are only two months to discuss the issues affecting every region, issues that will concern Kenyans and those that will benefit them in the next dispensation, he said.
“Therefore for us we are very clear that we are guiding our people accordingly. We already know that it is a two-horse race unless anything else happens,” he said.
Kenyans, he said, are being given the same promises they have been promised since independence by presidential candidates.
As a result, he said, if Kenyans are to take the country to the next level, they should elect representatives who will guide them.
Those representatives, he added, should also defend their interests and work for the nation and not for their individual interests or that of their individual parties
Mt Kenya has shown no interest to field a presidential candidate from the region in the 2022 election.
This, he said, is why they have been calling for voting in visionary leaders and not to vote in candidates on the basis of party popularity.
It is upon Kenyans to decide whether they would wish to continue with the issue of political party dominance and dictatorship or want to elect leaders who can be guided, principled and independent, he added.
This, he said, will ensure they can articulate issues affecting the country both inside and outside Parliament.
“Therefore our interest as TSP is to ensure we have the best candidates. We shall be campaigning for the best candidate to win and not the best party to win,” he said.
He told members to vote for the one who has the interest of the people at heart and one who will have a head start.
Kiunjuri said parties should not be judged based on number of followers or because of their national coverage like those with presidential candidates has.
The TSP leader urged the youth to turn out in large numbers and register as voters, saying there was poor voter listing during the previous exercise.
TSP party followers had become impatient and had started pressurising the party leader to give them political direction and tell them the party’s preferred presidential candidate.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
