"I am a politician, trader and former teacher. I do not know why they think they can intimidate me...".
These were the words of Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri on May 27, 2018, as some called for his resignation over an alleged maize scandal at the National Cereals and Produce Board.
On Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta kicked the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary out of his government in a move that may not have come as a surprise to many observers.
Kiunjuri has been seen as a key contender in taking President Uhuru Kenyatta's mantle as the Mt Kenya kingpin ahead of the next election.
In addition, he has come under criticism for the woes that have been facing farmers in Uhuru's backyard as well as across the country.
The fact that Uhuru spent the better part of his speech addressing the sector, for keen observers, it was time for Kiunjuri to go.
In the Ministry of Agriculture, he has been faced with a lot of challenges, including the recurring maize crisis, fluctuating tea prices, importation of cheap milk and eggs that have flooded the market, dealing a blow to local farmers.
Kiunjuri has also had to deal with the storm that erupted in the wake of the ailing sugar sector, which has resulted in several state-owned sugarcane millers closing down.
The sacking of the CS comes at a time when he has been seen to be getting closer to the Deputy President William Ruto in matters Mt Kenya politics.
However, the two have been friends for longer than they have worked together in government.
Immediately after being appointed as CS, Kiunjuri was among politicians who were at The Hague to accompany Ruto during his no-case-answer oral submissions at the ICC.
Kiunjuri was also not among the group of CSs and PSs who were meeting in the infamous La Mada meetings where there was an alleged plot to tame Ruto.
There have also been several occasions in the recent past that politicians have been calling on Kiunjuri to take over the mantle from Uhuru ahead of the next election.
While some of his critics, especially those in the Kieleweke side of Jubilee, have accused him of undermining the president, Kiunjuri has severally maintained that he is offering solutions.
"I am loyal to the President and I don't think anybody will be offended by me offering a solution when called upon. I am a senior member of the community with vast experience in leadership," Kiunjuri said in a previous interview with the Nation.
The former MP joined Cabinet in 2015 replacing Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru who had resigned from Devolution docket.
After the 2017 election, Uhuru moved Kiunjuri to the Ministry of Agriculture in a mini-reshuffle.
At the time of his appointment in 2015, Kiunjuri was seen as Uhuru's favourite CS from the Mt Kenya region.
But things seemed to go the opposite direction as Uhuru publicly criticised the CS in public on several occasions.
The president previously reprimanded Kiunjuri over graft at the ministry after it emerged that cartels pocketed billions meant for genuine maize farmers.
At the 2018, Nairobi International Show, Uhuru publicly reprimanded Kiunjuri telling him to act on cartels or lose his job.
In August 2019, in a new executive order, Uhuru moved the lucrative irrigation department from Kiunjuri's Agriculture Ministry to the Water and Sanitation docket
With politics dividing the Mt Kenya politics especially after the handshake, Kiunjuri started taking a more vocal stand politically.
As the country awaited the BBI report, Kiunjuri joined MPs from Mt Kenya in parliament as they demanded that the document must cater to the region's needs.
When the report was released, Kiunjuri yet again joined MPs from the region at a retreat in Embu where they took a regional position on the BBI.
It took a few days for Uhuru to respond to the group saying that there are people who are holding meetings and pretending to be speaking for the region.
"They see me silent and think ‘he is just there and knows nothing’. There is nothing I do not know and when the time comes, I know those who speak and they are not those who are speaking now," the President said on December 4 while speaking in Gatundu.
A few days before Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, who has been a harsh critic of the CS, claimed that Kiunjuri had failed and it was time for Uhuru to sack him.
"Mwangi Kiunjuri is trying to provoke the President so that he can be fired, and then he can come to the Mt Kenya people as a victim and mobilise an as a renegade," Ngunjiri wrote on his Facebook on December 1.
In June last year, Ngunjiri and other pro-handshake supporters disrupted Kiunjuri's meeting in Nyeri accusing him of undermining elected leaders from the region.
For a man under fire, Kiunjuri has been known to speak his mind, especially while addressing Mt Kenya residents mostly in speeches laced with Kikuyu proverbs and idioms.
In his most recent speeches that caught the attention of many, Kiunjuri warned that the region would be rudderless politically if something was not done.
"As a people with great interest in our community, we must sit and open our eyes wide. It will reach a time when we will get spat upon," he said in Kikuyu on December 30, 2019, during the burial of his friend Batista Maina in Meru county.
Senator John Kinyua, Buuri MP Mugambi Rindikiri and MCAs from Laikipia, Meru and Nyahururu urged Kiunjuri to travel widely, asking Kenyans to support him for Deputy President in 2022.
Kiunjuri said lack of preparations for the presidency in the 2022 General Election is a tall order for the region.
"You cannot remove your house's roof during rains but during the dry season. We are saying let it rain, they will come and roof our house for us. As Mt Kenya region, we are contented saying let them take control. We are exposed, giving an opportunity to intruders —any bird can build its nest,” Kiunjuri said in Kikuyu parables.
His docket has also been a nightmare for him especially being put on the spot over farmers' earning in the various sub-sectors.
Last year, he was at loggerheads with Strategic Food Reserve board chairman Noah Wekesa over planned maize imports.
Kiunjuri said that only the ministry is mandated to comment on maize imports.
He said Wekesa's claims that the country needed to import only two million bags of maize were reckless and amounted to insubordination.
Some political observers note that Kiunjuri has taken up what appears to be a leadership vacuum in Mt Kenya as Uhuru focuses on his national agenda.
"In my view, Kiunjuri brings about a level of experience that few politicians have in Mt Kenya. He has a knack on the political language that sets him apart from the rest. He knows how to work the crowd. A key component when it comes to leadership," Political analyst Gabriel Muthuma told the Star a week ago.
On his part, USIU lecturer Prof Macharia Munene said while Uhuru will still be influential in Mt Kenya even after retiring in 2022, Kiunjuri has proven he has what it takes to lead the region.
“Kiunjuri is a foresighted leader and a politician who has matured over time. There is some element of desperation in the region on who will take over from Uhuru and Kiunjuri has seen that opportunity,”Munene said.
