Behind-the-scenes manoeuvres and fears over widening cracks in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mt Kenya backyard yesterday forced more than 70 MPs from the region to drop the 2022 succession talk.
The Star established sharp differences among opposing factions during the politicians’ Naivasha retreat was the reason they snubbed debate on Uhuru’s possible successor and his post-retirement role.
The MPs, who convened a one-day private meeting at Enashipai resort, instead agreed for a meeting with Uhuru to get clarity on the President’s 2022 plans following his handshake with NASA chief Raila Odinga.
The crucial meeting will be held in Karatina on Thursday before the President unveils the new Karatina market and tours various development projects in Nyeri county.
There has been confusion in the President’s turf since his deal with Raila on March 9.
The region has been sending mixed signals on their support for Deputy President William Ruto who was initially seen as Uhuru’s automatic choice of successor. Ruto no longer looks like the region’s obvious choice.
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RUTO AS HEIR-APPARENT
With palpable excitement and jitters as well, two factions have emerged in the larger Mt Kenya region with one backing Ruto as Uhuru’s heir apparent while another is of the view that the vote-rich bloc should forge new alliances outside Ruto.
Fears that yesterday’s Naivasha meeting was convened by Ruto’s allies to pronounce the region’s support for him ahead of the 2022 polls triggered differences between the two camps.
One of the MPs from the region told the Star in confidence that there was intense haggling on Sunday night over the agenda of the retreat before MPs finally agreed to focus on development programmes.
“As you are aware the region is not currently speaking with one voice. There are those who wanted us to discuss who will succeed President Uhuru in 2022 both for presidency and the regional level. That was, however, divisive and was shelved,” said the two-term MP.
The meeting was convened by MPs Cecily Mbarire, Moses Kuria and nominated senator Isaac Mwaura with a view of coming up with one voice ahead of the State House meeting.
When they emerged yesterday after their private deliberations, the MPs said in a communique that they had unanimously agreed to push for the region’s development agenda.
They accused the Jubilee government of neglecting the region despite voting for President Uhuru overwhelmingly in the last general elections.
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ICT CS Joe Mucheru and CAS Rachel Shebesh (Devolution), Winnie Guchu (Water) and her counterpart in Treasury Nelson Gaichuhie represented the executive in the meeting.
DEMANDS TO PRESIDENT
But addressing the press after the meeting, Mbarire, who declined to take questions, said that the group was fully behind Uhuru and his Big Four agenda.
She said they had identified development priorities for the region in particular with regards to water, roads, electricity and agriculture.
"We have developed a detailed development matrix that we shall forward to the President for implementation and Mt Kenya region must claim its rightful share of development in the country, within the remaining four years of this current administration,"
she said.
She called on the IEBC to be fair to the region when it comes to the delimitation of boundaries since the region had been underrepresented in the current Parliament.
"Mt Kenya region contributes to 60 per cent of country’s GDP yet only 20 per cent is ploughed back and we are calling on Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) to ensure the region gets its fair share of resources,"
she said.