When a bear appeared suddenly on the path of two men, one of them climbed up quickly into a tree. The other fell flat on the ground and when the bear came up and felt him with his snout, he feigned the appearance of death as much as he could.
The Bear soon left him, for it is said he will not touch a dead body. When he was quite gone, the other traveller descended from the tree and inquired of his friend what it was the bear had whispered in his ear.
“He gave me this advice,” his companion replied. “Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger.”
There has been a lot of talk about Mt Kenya getting a new leader since President Uhuru Kenyatta will be retiring next year. A lot of names have been proposed with some politicians even declaring that they would name a new leader soon.
After the 2002 election, President Daniel arap Moi was set to retire as president. At the time, Moi never declared anyone his successor and continued to lead Rift Valley after his retirement.
By this virtue, Moi remained the kingpin of Rift Valley into his retirement and was able to Mar-shall all support from his backyard in the 2002 election despite Uhuru and his running mate, Mudavadi, not being from the region.
In 2012, former President Mwai Kibaki decided to step away from active politics as he headed to retirement ahead of the 2013 election. Due to this inactivity and with the full backing of Kibaki, Mt Kenya met in Limuru and declared Uhuru Kenyatta the leader of the region.
Uhuru is set to retire in a few months and as it stands, there is no successor from Mt Kenya positioned to take over the mantle. However, Uhuru has not avoided politics like Kibaki and can only be compared with Moi at this time.
This means that with all things remaining constant, Mt Kenya will be led by Uhuru into retirement. The constant clamour for a successor is therefore misplaced and people need to stop thinking that he will be replaced.
Some politicians from Mt Kenya claim that Uhuru is not actively giving direction to the region ahead of 2022. But to be honest, Uhuru has been focused on ensuring that Mt Kenya is not alienated from the rest of the country since it has no strong candidate to run for president.
As he works to unite Kenya, Uhuru knows that Mt Kenya really needs a stable political future and this is the ground he laid with the handshake. But some leaders from the region are not seeing this bigger picture and, thus, are a threat to the plan.
Everyone has taken the assumption that Uhuru, who is serving his last term, will exit active politics even before he hands over. This assumption is anchored on how Kibaki exited the political arena when he finished his second term.
The thing that many may not realise is that Uhuru is not Kibaki. His style of politics and leadership are different and he clearly does not want to be distracted from his development agenda with petty politics.
The future of Mt Kenya needs to be discussed openly, in broad daylight, and the media should cover it so that the decisions made reverberate across the country. But no one should have any doubt on Uhuru’s focus in ensuring that Mt Kenya remains united and as part of the rest of a united Kenya.
Every election, Mt Kenya region has had a strong presidential candidate, which has made it difficult for the region to shift its votes. It is therefore an unfair stereotype that Mt Kenya cannot vote for a presidential candidate from another region.
Mt Kenya will listen to Uhuru’s direction in line with his promises to empower the region and unite the country. It is thus futile for some in the Mt Kenya region to try and replace him as the regions political kingpin.
