It is not too early for President Uhuru Kenyatta to mentor somebody to take over from him, in fact it is extremely late.
If you look at mentorship or appointing an heir apparent in matters political, there are always issues to do with vested interest or a crisis.
At the moment, there is no crisis in Central Kenya that will precipitate the appointment of a heir of Uhuru’s political capital.
You remember, for instance, that even Michuki (former Cabinet minister John Michuki) - much as he was not the prophet who had the honour of determining who became the successor of Kibaki in the Kikuyu nation - the ICC matter necessitated that somebody steps in the gap to speak, especially for the Kikuyu leadership because of the kind of clout that Uhuru had when he was indicted by ICC.
It will not take leaders from Central to direct Kenyatta to pick a successor.
In fact, what Mt. Kenya leaders should have done or what they should be doing is to start showing leadership and direction that the community itself desires, then you find that the stars and forces of nature and political forces align to a particular leader.
You will recall when Kenyatta was chairman of Kanu and later quit to form TNA.
Right now we don’t have a politician in Mt Kenya, except Peter Kenneth, who has his own party, though his party has lost all the energy and the vibrancy. He is waiting to be the kingpin of the Kikuyu nation and that is likely not to happen.
So these other leaders - if at all there are two or three leaders in Central Kenya who feel that they have what it takes to take the community forward - should start positioning themselves.
They should not ask Uhuru to mentor a successor. It will not take that direction because none has an idea of who Uhuru might pick.
As we look at the political affairs, especially in 2019 and possibly towards the end of the year, critical issues, for example, the referendum will have a couple of other leaders rising and positioning themselves, and trying to demonstrate that they have the wit, the skills, the craft and mastery of politics and are hungry for leadership.
So leaders from Mt Kenya whether one or two, who feel that they want to take over the leadership, should start showing their ambition and ability.
Javas Bigambo is a political analyst, spoke to the Star