Former Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau has announced that he will vie for Murang'a governor's seat next year.
He vied for the position in 2017 but lost to Governor Mwangi wa Iria.
After losing in the election, Kamau left the political scene and focused on his businesses.
The former MP on Tuesday told youths in Murang’a town that he took a break from politics to give Wa Iria room to serve his second and final term.
He told the youth that he will respect President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive that all politicians focus on development and stop putting the country into a campaign mode.
Kamau who is the chairperson of Tana and Athi River Development Authority, promised to conduct peaceful campaigns devoid of insults. He said only cowards who fear defeat engage in violence.
“My team will go through residents in particular areas to campaign in the grassroots,” he said.
The former MP said his team will have a number through which people willing to support him can register. The team will be consolidated by August.
Top of his agenda will be empowerment of the youth, whom he said have been the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
If elected, his administration will waive levies imposed on small traders and formulate ways of empowering them through stimulus packages, he said.
The former MP said he will also establish a kitty to fund education for the needy but bright students.
Soon after Kamau was elected MP in 2007, he established the Kigumo Endowment Fund, which raises funds from well-wishers to fund secondary education for hundreds of needy students.
The former MP promised to complete all development projects started by Wa Iria.
“We acknowledge the strides made by Governor Wa Iria and will ensure the projects started by his administration are continued even as we establish more,” he said.
Kamau gave an example of the dairy projects started by Wa Iria’s administration, which he vowed to support if elected.
Dairy farmers receive a minimum of Sh35 per litre of milk through contract farming that is facilitated by the county government. The county has also established a milk plant that processes over 100,000 litres daily.
He pledged to set up value addition plants for avocados and bananas that are produced in plenty by area farmers.
Kamau said he will rally Mt Kenya governors to form an economic bloc that will help fight for the interests of the region.
The bloc will help streamline the coffee sector that has been ailing for decades, he said.
“Such a bloc would also help the region find a common market and better the prices for our farmers,” the ex-MP said.
Kamau also hinted that he may revive the Ndaka-ini water distribution issue.
He said there is no way a county that supplies over 80 per cent of its water to Nairobi can depend on boreholes for its own supply.
Kamau will be vying against Murang'a Woman Rep Sabina Chege, former Devolution PS Irungu Nyakera, Water PS Joseph Wairagu, Ahadi Kenya CEO Stanley Kamau and Senator Irungu Kang’ata.
Edited by A.N
