President Uhuru Kenyatta’s allies from Central Kenya are laying the ground for a major political gathering to endorse Raila Odinga’s 2022 presidential bid next week.
The endorsement on November 27 in Nyeri will come just three days before the Jubilee National Delegates Conference where Deputy President William Ruto will be formally expelled as the second in command.
At the NDC, President Kenyatta is expected to reveal his succession plans as he endorses a 2022 pre-election pact with Raila's ODM.
Nine days after the Jubilee NDC, Raila will officially declare his presidential bid that insiders in his camp call his best shot ever.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, a key ally of the President and an organiser of the Azimio La Umoja Central Kenya chapter, said the Nyeri event will cause tremors among handshake critics.
“This will be the day that Central Kenya will speak loud and clear about their 2022 political path,” Ngunjiri told the Star.
Mt Kenya has become a major battleground, pitting Raila against Ruto.
Ruto has camped in the region since Saturday, scouring villages to maintain his influence.
Details gleaned from politicians working on the Nyeri meeting reveal a grand ceremony planned to send a strong political message and emphasise support of the Kikuyu and Luo elders.
Before the Saturday event, the Luo and the Kikuyu councils of elders are to hold a historic meeting in Nyeri on November 26 to help thaw the relationship between the two communities.
The involvement of the elders from both sides will be a symbolic ending of the perception about bad blood between the Kikuyu and the Luo communities dating back to the days of Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Odinga.
On Monday, Kikuyu Council of Elders' chairman Wachira Kiago confirmed the two councils of elders will hold a mega event at Kabiruini grounds in Nyeri ahead of Raila’s Azimio La Umoja.
About 400 elders from Raila’s Luo community will arrive in Nyeri on November 25.
“Our meeting will be part of the previous sessions we have had as we build the unity of the country,” Kiago told the Star.
He went on, "We agreed that as a symbol of the unity we are preaching, it is important that we bring together the elders from both communities before the main political event.”
In September, Raila led some of his allies to a meeting with the Kikuyu elders for special prayers in Ruaraka, heralding a new era.
The elders then endorsed Raila’s 2022 presidential bid, paving the way for his entry into the vote-rich Mt Kenya region.
Raila has also hosted members of the Kikuyu Council of Elders led by Kiago at his Karen residence.
In October last year, the Kikuyu Council of Elders and senior Mt Kenya politicians led by former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth visited their Luo counterparts at Raila’s Bondo home.
Nominated MP Maina Kamanda, a key member of the Azimio La Umoja think tank, termed the November Azimio La Umoja a historic event for the unity of the country.
The message we will be sending going forward would be that there is a fresh Kenya now where enmity between communities has been buried.
"This is going to be the declaration by the Kikuyu nation to support Raila’s presidential bid next year,” the MP said, insisting all politicians from the region supporting Uhuru will be there.
Revealing the political significance of the elders meeting on the eve of the Azimio La Umoja, Kamanda said the event would be the culmination of a lengthy process to bury the hatchet.
“The elders will hold their meetings on November 16 before the Azimio La Umoja session to demonstrate that the two communities have buried the hatchet,” Kamanda said.
He went on, “It is an elaborate programme but the message we will be sending going forward would be that there is a fresh Kenya now where enmity between communities has been buried,” he said.
The Star understands that the Nyeri meeting will bring together delegates from the Mt Kenya counties of Nyeri, Murang’a, Kiambu, Kirinyaga and Laikipia as pro-Uhuru forces seek to demonstrate Raila’s popularity.
More delegates will also be brought in from the diaspora in Nakuru as the region’s bigwigs seek to endorse Raila’s presidential candidature and turn the tables on Ruto.
The ODM boss is expected to camp in Central Kenya for three days starting November 25. He will travel around the region in the build up to the Nyeri gathering.
Raila’s presidential bid has received significant backing from some of the President’s allies, mostly governors, seen as the region's senior most political leaders.
With their support, the former Prime Minister has in the last two months sustained his forays in Uhuru’ backyard, significantly threatening Ruto’s fortunes for the battle for State House.
“We have reversed what some people spent years building and we hope the momentum we have built to fire Baba (Raila) up the peak of the mountain will be sustained," Ngunjiri said.
It will be interesting to see if Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga would be part of the Azimio La Umoja, given that he has avoided such function in the past as his political stand remains unknown.
Raila’s allies from Mt Kenya have insisted his fortunes in the region are on an upward trajectory in the battle against Ruto.
"The Nyeri Azimio La Umoja edition will be the clearest indication that the people of Mt Kenya have made a decision to support Raila in his 2022 presidential bid,” Kieni MP Kanini Kega said.
Kega, who has been accompanying Raila in his countrywide meetings, said as in other regions, Central Kenya will have resolutions.
“Leaders from the region are going to present our memorandum and also outline the resolutions,” he said.
After the Nyeri meeting, Raila is planning a mega political jamboree in Nairobi for December 9 when he is expected to formally announce his presidential bid.
Raila’s big day has been carefully scheduled to coincide with the final lap of his countywide consultations known as Azimio La Umoja that have overwhelmingly endorsed his presidential bid.
The battle for Mt Kenya votes could intensify as final figures by the electoral commission show that the region leads by big margins in voting strength.
The latest IEBC data revealed Mt Kenya currently has 5.9 million voters, having recorded 224,499 new voters in the recently concluded voter listing.
Ngunjiri said the ODM boss’ political expeditions to the mountain have triggered panic in the Tangatanga camp and sent the DP’s forces back to restrategise.
(Edited by V.Graham
