A Trumpeter, bravely leading on the soldiers, was captured by the enemy. He cried out to his captors, “Pray spare me and do not take my life without cause or inquiry. I have not slain a single man of your troop. I have no arms, and carry nothing but this one brass trumpet.”
“That is the very reason for which you should be put to death,” they said, “For, while you do not fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle.”
For a long time now, Mt Kenya region has been seen as not having a trumpeter - someone to lead it to the ongoing negotiations in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s succession. But this is no longer the case.
This past weekend, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi was coronated as the spokesperson of the Mt Kenya region by elders from the various communities led by those from the Gikuyu at the historic Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine in Murang’a county.
Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga is a very significant landmark to the Gikuyu because of its ancestral, spiritual and cultural heritage. From time immemorial, the shrine was considered sacred to the Gikuyu people.
This was the first of its kind to happen in the history of Kenya, for a member of the Mbeere tribe to speak for the whole of Mt Kenya. The Gikuyu community have previously taken up the mantle and have had the support of the rest from Mt Kenya East to push through the region’s political interests.
Muturi is not just an ordinary figure from the region and his coronation can therefore not be taken lightly. He is the senior-most political leader in the region after President Kenyatta and also the third in command in the entire country.
There has been talk of the region having no political leadership after the exit of Uhuru next year but this is now about to change. With this mantle, Muturi can now lead the region in negotiating with other regions to ensure the interests of Mt Kenya are catered for when political formations for 2022 are put in place.
Just recently, Muturi got a similar endorsement from the Ameru through the Njuri Ncheke. This means he does not only have the blessings of his community — the Mbeere — but also the Agikuyu and the Ameru.
Unlike many other politicians from the region, Muturi has been tactical and has avoided making political pronouncements outside Parliament. Not a single politician can tell you where Muturi lies in the current political grouping in the Mt Kenya region.
JB, as many know him, is, therefore, the best unifying factor in the region and his coronation does not come at a better time. Those who have interacted with the Agikuyu history know the elders do not just pick you from the blue and make you a spokesman of their people.
This has not been a one-day event but a process in identifying who has the best interests for the region. The elders had to take the Speaker through several rituals that made him even take leave from his official duties in Parliament for more than one week.
For one to understand the significance of Muturi’s coronation, you need to see the kind of opposition it attracted from some quarters. Most of the opposition is from people who believe they are in a better position to lead the region after Uhuru.
But if you look at their politics, most of them have taken very extreme positions and thus becoming a divisive factor in the region. At a time when many people are looking at the region as being divided, the best thing is to have one person take up that role as a uniting factor.
Muturi presents the region with this opportunity and it is now upon all leaders from the region to get behind him for the sake of their people’s interests. A united front while going to negotiate with other regions will serve the Mt Kenya region better than having the divisions we have witnessed in the last two years or so.
The writer is a political and communications consultant. @Machelwaikenda
