A major rift is emerging in the Mt Kenya region
ahead of the 2027 elections as leaders affiliated to different camps trade barbs.
The current wave of rivalry seemed to have
been sparked last week after retired President Uhuru Kenyatta declared that he
is now fully in charge of Jubilee Party and will be traversing the country to popularise
the party.
The faction of former Deputy President
Rigathi Gachagua dismissed the move, calling Uhuru’s Jubilee a ‘wheelbarrow in red’.
The wheelbarrow is in reference to UDA’s symbol.
Gachagua’s critics warn that attempts to make
his DCP the sole party for the Mt Kenya region will flop, while his allies claim there is a plot to attempt to split the mountain to the benefit of UDA and President
William Ruto.
The region overwhelmingly voted for Ruto but
seems to be drifting away towards opposition as different parties strategise to
harvest from the vote-rich basket.
The split is threatening opposition unity
with analysts now believing President Ruto will be the ultimate beneficiary, especially
if Jubilee fronts Fred Matiang’i against a united opposition bringing together
Gachagua, Kalonzo Musoka, Martha Karua, Justin Muturi, Eugene Wamalwa and
George Natembeya.
Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni
shot back and sought to turn tables against Gachagua by claiming the impeached
DP was working for Ruto secretly and that the two had an understanding
on how to move forward.
“Gachagua told them that Ruto has
already sent emissaries to them and they had an arrangement to put their houses
in order and then meet to have a discussion," Kioni alleged on Hot 96.
"If you work with Kasongo and have been sent with a red
wheelbarrow. This is not a party that wants good for our party leader and DCP
at large,” DCP Deputy Party leader Cleophas Malala said last week.
Political Analyst Prof Herman Manyora claims Jubilee and Matiang'i is a project first of Uhuru and secondly of Ruto and Raila Odinga to neutralise Gachagua’s influence.
“Matiangi could be Uhuru’s project so that
he (Uhuru) can deal with Gachagua. If Uhuru doesn’t deal with him, he will end
up entrenching himself as the kingpin of the mountain at the expense of the
Kenyatta family and therefore, you must bring in Matiang'i to disrupt Gachagua’s
match to the top of Mt Kenya," Manyora claimed.
“Matiang’i is a project for Ruto
and Ruto through Uhuru. Therefore, Uhuru will be merging with Ruto and Raila to
face the united opposition,” he claimed.
Former Trade Cabinet Secretary and CCK
party leader Moses Kuria says DCP is being unmasked in the mountain, and its perceived
grip is just a fallacy.
“DCP is a party of aspirants because they
want a wave where they can benefit, but the mask is falling off. They have
become so predictable, fighting everyone. It’s the beginning of the end of this
thing called DCP. Mt Kenya will be a free market,” Kuria notes.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba said it’s
disheartening to see Mountain people attacking each other for political
competition, warning that the entitlement is too much, while adding that before
DCP there was Jubilee UDA, DP and others.
“Nobody has the monopoly of the eight million mountain
vote. Uhuru is the undisputed Kingpin of the Mountain, and he didn’t
force it on us. He unified the country. He’s now at
liberty to bless anybody to take over from him, even if it’s not me,” Wamuchomba said.
Former Cabinet minister and Starehe MP
Maina Kamanda dismissed Kioni’s sentiments, saying he has no influence in the
region and is just trying to be strategic to be named Matiang’i’s running
mate.
“He (Kioni) can not even deliver an MCA
seat in Ndaragwa. Just like he did in 2013 with Mudavadi, he now wants to
create a perception that Jubilee can deliver the Mountain so that he is named
as a running mate. He is inconsequential,” Kamanda said.
Lawyer and journalist Wahome Thuku, who is
allied to Gachagua, appeared to hint that Kioni is afraid of the influence of
the DCP region, hence resorted to branding its leader.
“Let’s forget Riggy G and Ruto for a moment
and go back to Ndaragwa Constituency. Kioni, the immediate former MP, will (of
course) be running on the Jubilee ticket. A DCP candidate will be on the ballot. I
don't know who that will be, so let me put the two questions to Ndaragwa people,”
Thuku quipped.
“Gachagua is not threatened by Uhuru’s presence. There is no chance that Jubilee
will perform better than it did when Uhuru was President,” Embakasi North MP James Gakuya said.
Former Nyeri Town MP Wambugu Ngunjiri, a one-time
ally of Gachagua turned critic, rubbished the idea that Gachagua controls seven million as laughable.
"Mt Kenya voters are not property to be claimed. They make independent
choices," he said.
Jubilee party director of elections Kirika
Githaiga said Central Kenya has its own unique
political identity, adding that any attempt to manufacture what he termed as cult-like following is a 'miscalculation that will end in spectacular failure'.
On his part, former Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi
said that instead of leaders focusing on insults, they should be united in the
economy of the region, which he said is larger than 38 African countries.
“The economy of the 10 Mt Kenya stands at USD28 billion. The economy is bigger than 37 different African countries.
So instead of wasting all that time insulting one another, why can’t we focus
on that? How can we leverage that economy to build manufacturing?” he posed.
