Uhuru succession: I'm ready to serve Kenyans - Speaker Muturi

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has said he is ready to serve Kenyans as the President Uhuru Kenyatta's successor and Mount Kenya region's kingpin.

The Star established that those backing the speaker are also going flat out to package him as a 2022 presidential candidate.

The idea is that the 64-year-old speaker is "a safe pair of hands to bring the community together'.

"Ready to serve!" the 64-year-old speaker said via social media on Monday reacting to story by the Star on his candidature in the race to replace Uhuru.

Muturi has been approached by the Njuri Nceke Council of Elders, the Kiama Kiama Kikuyu Council of Elders, the Embu and Mbeere Cultural Elders, as well as religious leaders.

The Star has further learned that Speaker Muturi has been busy lately, ostensibly buoyed by the pressure to vie for kingpin - at least. 

His first public appearance after a lull was at the Saturday's Sagana meeting, the last having been the burial of former Cooperatives minister Joe Nyagah.

However, the speaker was not present when President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the tax laws Parliament had just passed in a special sitting a day before.

The Star has reliably established the National Assembly boss was involved in events in his backyard towards consolidating the voting bloc.

It was expected that the Sagana meeting would end with the crowning of an interim kingpin but that never materialised.

President Kenyatta restated he was still in charge and that he’d continue leading the region at the negotiations table.

Though the President says he’s still in charge, pundits say the region faces a leadership vacuum after his retirement