• President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to make a rare visit to Murang’a county on today Sunday ahead of release of BBI report that has kicked off storm in Mt Kenya region.
• Deputy President William Ruto is also expected to attend a fundraising at Githumu ACC&S church in Kandara constituency, a handful of kilometers from where the President will be
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to make a rare visit to Murang’a county on today Sunday ahead of release of BBI report that has kicked off storm in Mt Kenya region.
The Building Bridges Initiative task force which was constituted by Uhuru and Odm leader Raila Odinga following their 2018 March handshake completed writing the report last month and has been waiting for an appointment with the President.
It is understood that the President who is already said to be aware of the contents of the report shelved the formal reception until after Friday’s Kibra by-elections.
Leaders including Mps and governors from Mt Kenya region have since issued conditions that must be met for them to support recommendations of the BBI.
The bone of contention is that the Garissa senator Yusuf Haji-led task force could have recommended a total overhaul of the governance system from presidential to parliamentary which to them will disadvantage the region.
Uhuru will be attending a church service at the ACK Kenol church, Murang’a county for an end-of-the-year thanksgiving ceremony.
Murang’a senator Irungu Kang’ata said the President had pledged to visit the church early in the year.
Kang’ata said he had visited state house in the company of Murang’a South Bishop Julius Karanu to get a bus that the President had pledged to give to Mukangu secondary school.
“During my wedding late last year, I asked the President to assist the school which had performed very well and took 42 students to university,” Kang’ata said.
He noted that at state house, the President met them separately and accepted an invitation to the Bishop’s church, adding that the President’s visit to the church is a rare occurrence.
But on the same day, Deputy President William Ruto is also expected to attend a fundraising at Githumu ACC&S church in Kandara constituency, a handful of kilometers from where the President will be.
According to Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, his ally, the fundraising ceremony was organized a while ago before anybody realized that the President would also be visiting the county on the same day.
Ndindi however noted that all local leaders will attend the President’s function as the head of the nation and their party leader.
“If the President will indeed be attending the church function, then you can be assured that we will all be there because we support him as our leader,” Ndindi said.
He said he is confident that even the Deputy President will make other arrangements that will ensure his function does not collide with the President’s.
“This is just a case of two separate functions colliding and when that happens, we have to show our solidarity with the President,” he said.
The President’s visit comes at a time when there is a quiet discontent in the region, with many residents expressing their frustrations with the government over the increasingly hard economic times.
Others have complained the Jubilee government has neglected the region development-wise despite being his backyard from which he draws most of his support.
This has in turn split the region into two factions, with one declaring its support for the President while the other drifted to the Deputy President.