If there is something that any close follower of politics in the country has never imagined is the fact that there could be cracks in the Mount Kenya region. Well, this might actually be true given the recent happenings within the region.
After initiating 2022 succession talks by suggesting that the Mt. Kenya region will not accept any deal that will affect the people from the region, the Mps, in last minute attempts to calm the political temperature decided to drop the talks and have instead decided to meet the President with fresh demands to him.
The Mps abandoned the planned Naivasha meeting and instead met at Enashipai resort where they resolved that meeting with Uhuru to get clarity on the President’s 2022 plans following his handshake with NASA chief Raila Odinga was the best thing.
The Mount Kenya leaders will meet the President in Karatina before he embarks on various developmental tours of the vast Nyeri county.
Uhuru’s building bridges initiative with Raila Odinga seem to have caused great confusion within the Jubilee camp.
The region has been sending mixed signals on their support for Deputy President William Ruto who was initially seen as Uhuru’s automatic choice of successor. Ruto no longer looks like the region’s obvious choice.
With palpable excitement and jitters as well, two factions have emerged in the larger Mt Kenya region with one backing Ruto as Uhuru’s heir apparent while another is of the view that the vote-rich bloc should forge new alliances outside Ruto.
“As you are aware the region is not currently speaking with one voice. There are those who wanted us to discuss who will succeed President Uhuru in 2022 both for presidency and the regional level. That was, however, divisive and was shelved,” said an Mp who sought anonymity.
The meeting was convened by MPs Cecily Mbarire, Moses Kuria and nominated senator Isaac Mwaura with a view of coming up with one voice ahead of the State House meeting.
When they emerged yesterday after their private deliberations, the MPs said in a communique that they had unanimously agreed to push for the region’s development agenda.
They accused the Jubilee government of neglecting the region despite voting for President Uhuru overwhelmingly in the last general elections.
Speaking to the media after the deliberations, Cecily Mbarire said that the Mount Kenya region was completely behind the president and that they were in full support of the Big 4 Agenda.
She said they had identified development priorities for the region in particular with regards to water, roads, electricity and agriculture.
“We have developed a detailed development matrix that we shall forward to the President for implementation and Mt Kenya region must claim its rightful share of development in the country, within the remaining four years of this current administration,” she said.
Mbarire also called on the IEBC to add more constituencies to the region saying that the people from the region were underrepresented.
She also called on the Commission for revenue allocation to allocate more resources to the region since the region is the backbone of Kenya’s economy.
It remains to be seen how the president will address the leaders demands and how the region will chat it’s 2022 political path.
Do you think the region deserves more development projects compared to other regions?