Mt Kenya leaders backing President Uhuru Kenyatta have formed a new group to solidify his support and they plan to name and shame those who refuse to join.
Nominated MP Maina Kamanda on Sunday said the Mt Kenya and Diaspora Leadership Forum will help the President complete his development agenda. He was speaking at a Njau-ini African Christian Church & Schools church in Kangari, Kigumo subcounty in Murang’a.
Uhuru’s Big Four agenda includes universal healthcare, food security, affordable housing and manufacturing.
The forum is not the only such group in the region. It incorporates both elected and non-elected leaders, among them former presidential candidates Peter Kenneth and Martha Karua. In Murang’a county, Mathioya MP Peter Kimari and his Kigumo counterpart Ruth Mwaniki have joined the group.
Kamanda said the group will go round the region making public the names of those who have declined to join.
Uhuru’s backyard has been sharply divided. Some leaders are solidly behind the President, others back Deputy President William Ruto and his Tanga Tanga movement.
Kamanda also recommended the creation of a Prime Minister’s position during the widely anticipated constitutional referendum.
He said those opposed to the PM’s seat should allow Kenyans to decide whether or not they want the position. The position will help the President to unite the country and reduce post-election chaos because more regions will be included in government, Kamanda said.
The immediate former Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru said the pro-Uhuru forum will bring leaders together.
He said some people are opposed to uniting the region so that they can divide leaders and manipulate them.
Kangema MP Muturi Kigano condemned the the pro-Ruto Tanga Tanga movement, saying its members have become “jukeboxes”.
Kigano said they concentrated too much on politics and forget their commitment to the people.
The issue of Uhuru’s succession has heated up and complicated politics in central Kenya. The region had been assumed to be strongly behind Uhuru and Ruto as his successor.
However, a Stop Ruto movement has steadily taken shape, headed by David Murathe, the former Jubilee vice-chairman. There also have been claims that Uhuru has overlooked the region in terms of development, though it voted steadily for him.