Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has taken a turn in the Second Term Governors to seek a term limit extension.
According to most governors who are serving their Second and last term in office according to the constitution want the term limit be scrapped.
Can we just term this move as power addiction?
But Wycliffe Oparanya is not interested for his quest of remaining in power. Governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega), Hassan Joho (Mombasa), Amason Kingi (Kilifi), Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) have either publicly declared or been named as potential presidential candidates.
Oparanya said that he is ripe for a top job.
“My eyes are focused on the presidency. I am ripe to play national politics,” said the former minister who was recently elected chairman of the Council of Governors.
Oparanya wants ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula to support his State House bid.
“I can’t be helping people every day. It’s time they also helped me. As they have been unable to clinch the seat, let them leave this thing and pave the way for me,” he said.
Joho, who has fashioned himself as the kingpin of Coast politics, says he will take a stab at the presidency in 2022.
“If I didn’t have national political ambitions, I’d have retired at 50. It’s only that I am running for President,” Joho said in November when asked if he had higher ambitions.
However, governors hailing from Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard have remained tight-lipped about their ambitions.
They have been ardent supporters of Ruto who is facing a big political test after a section of Mt Kenya leaders openly stated the region will not back him.
Outspoken Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago is among those serving a second term.
Also quiet about their next move are governors from ODM chief Raila Odinga’s Nyanza turf. Raila’s political game plan remains unclear.
Governors with presidential ambitions are assembling political war chests as well as acquiring the requisite wherewithal in readiness for the bruising battle.