• Coming three years before the 2022 General Election, Waiguru still has time to vet her admirers, as a presidential running mate.
• During the high season of NYS Scandal I –an appetiser – some of her critics asked her to 'stop cat-walking on us'.
There is a challenge decoding Governor Anne Waiguru’s claim that she is a high-premium bride in the 2022 succession stakes.
But the Kirinyaga governor could merely be dropping hints to upstage her rivals. Some of the rivals may also be her ‘political enemies’, who plotted to soil the Kerugoya Referral Hospital. The filth, she claims, was intended to raise doubts about her leadership. Waiguru claims ‘political enemies’ may have dumped garbage and medical waste at the hospital. They also did not wash linen, which are accumulating on hospital beds.
About 200 casual workers were dismissed early this month, on orders of the governor, to cut the burgeoning county wage bill. But there is no evidence ‘political enemies’ had a say in the sacking. Waiguru tells political enemies they may want to tar her with the brush of infamy, but there are others who see her as the next star in Central Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta is serving his final term, and Mt Kenya needs someone to represent its interests in Nairobi.
She sees herself as the steakholder. “I see my role as making sure the 10 counties in the Mt Kenya region get their rightful place in the next government. We do not want a boardroom appointee to lead the region, but a person who is the choice of the people.” To the supporters, Waiguru says she is headed closer to power in 2022. Two yet-to-be-named admirers have asked for her hand for a presidential running mate. But she won’t say who the applicants are.
The Kirinyaga governor is serving the public double course suspense. She is not ready yet for full disclose of her presidential suitors. The snippet is intended to raise her stakes in the Uhuru succession
Coming three years before the 2022 General Election, Waiguru still has time to vet her admirers, as a presidential running mate. She believes Jubilee shall form the next government, but she is not naming the applicants and their parties.
Deputy President William Ruto and Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, from Jubilee, are eyeing the presidency. Kuria is unlikely to have tipped Waiguru for a running mate. They share the Central Kenya turf. Could Ruto be the suitor? It’s possible. The DP may want to retain the Central Kenya column. Waiguru, who supports the President, could be a better bet to bait some votes from Mt Kenya region.
Is that how Waiguru comes in? Or is she merely stepping out ahead of other Jubilee presidential running mate hopefuls from Central? Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria, Tharaka Nithi Senator Kithure Kindiki, Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi, former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo, former Meru Governor Peter Munya and CS Mwangi Kiunjuri, among others, may be the targets of Waiguru’s self-marketing gig.
Waiguru, a woman of high breeding, is the initiator of the infamous Integrated Financial Management and Information System. Ifmis is blamed for assigning some counties national government budget votes such as co-ordinating State House functions. Ifmis has also been blamed for ‘paying’ dubious suppliers without the knowledge of accounting officers.
Waiguru is not contented with ‘light duties’, which her doctors advised in 2016. The advice came during the peak of the National Youth Service Scandal I. She was at the centre of the scandal. She says she was sucked in as a whistle-blower. But her political enemies say she was in the muddle as a suspect. During the high season of NYS Scandal I — an appetiser — some of Waiguru’s critics at the time asked her to ‘stop cat-walking on us’. The country was then ‘moaning’ the loss of Sh800 million at the NYS to tender-sucks.
Josephine Kabura, then described as an astute hairdresser, was claimed to have breached Ifmis, raided banks and allegedly got away with sacks of cash to pay suppliers. The scandal is yet to be concluded in a way that exposes the mighties of the hazy heist. Waiguru is also confirming she is not the damaged goods some thought she was after the scandal.
The Kirinyaga governor is serving the public double course suspense. She is not ready yet for full disclosure of her presidential suitors. The snippet is intended to raise her stakes in the Uhuru succession. She is probably baiting other suitors. She is telling them she may soon be gone with one of the early applicants.