Central Kenya leaders are already preparing for the region's future after 2022, on the assumption President Uhuru Kenyatta will be re-elected next year. At stake is who will become the regional supremo, with no clear leader in sight.
Three political blocs have emerged, comprising Central Kenya Kikuyu, Rift Valley Kikuyu under the banner Aberdare West, and Mt Kenya East, comprising the Meru, Tharaka, Mbeere and Embu.
The Kenyatta succession schemes involve realignments that are slowly shaking the ruling Jubilee Coalition. Most politicians from the region have refused to be engaged in discussions of the splits, though the Star has established the groupings have been holding separate meetings on the matter.
Yesterday, Uhuru, through State House Director of Public Communication Munyori Buku, insisted that Deputy President William Ruto will be the Jubilee Party's automatic flagbearer, come 2022, with the full backing of Central Kenya.
"The President has explained that 10 years of his own term are not long enough to implement the grand plan Jubilee has for Kenya. He has pointed out this super plan needs about 20 years to implement," Buku said in a statement.
"The President is at the heart of Kenya's transformation through mega infrastructure, energy generation and distribution, quality education, modernising agriculture and industrialisation, among others. The DP has been a key part of that agenda," he said. Buku also said that those "haranguing the country over the 2022 election are wasting their time".
He went on: "The reaction of Jubilee supporters and many other Kenyans has been absolutely clear in their support for the Deputy President." With the public declarations on Ruto's intended 2022 bid that have been witnessed over the last one month, Gema powerbrokers are preparing to call a meeting before the end of the year.
The Gema powerbrokers were due to meet on March 4 in a convention called 'Limuru 3' to chart the community's future, but it was quietly postponed "due to the President's unavailability".
'Limuru 3', according to insiders, is set to happen before the end of the year as a way of ensuring the ongoing competition does not affect next year's elections.
"The meeting is to be used to endorse Uhuru for a second term and declare that Ruto has to engage and select a running mate from the Mt Kenya region if he is to succeed Uhuru," a source familiar with the ongoings said.
Also read: There are hidden risks in the Uhuru-Ruto covenant
At 'Limuru 1' in 2011, Uhuru was endorsed as the Gema leader while at 'Limuru 2' in 2012 he was endorsed for president. Each of the three groups appears to have identifi ed an individual or individuals that it will revolve around after Uhuru, a development that is also said to be stalling the sharing of positions in the new Jubilee Party.
The Aberdare West grouping is said to be circling around Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri, whose appointment to Cabinet was not taken well by Central Kenya, especially Nyeri county. I
n Mt Kenya East, there is National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi and araka Nithi Senator Kindiki Kithure. Central Kenya has Kiambu Governor William Kabogo, though there is also mention of Peter Kenneth and Martha Karua, both of whom ran against Uhuru in 2013.
Murang'a Woman rep Sabina Chege has also started angling herself to compete with the rest to be the Number One Mt Kenya politician after Uhuru.
Over the weekend, Sabina declared that she was interested in being Ruto's DP in 2022, a position also eyed by Kabogo, Kiunjuri and Kindiki. Kabogo came under fire a couple of weeks ago, after saying it was not automatic that Ruto would get Mt Kenya support in 2022.
Yesterday, Kabogo hinted to the Star that he would seek a higher seat after serving his second term as Governor, if he wins at the 2017 elections. "After the two terms I am still young, wise and strong and will still work with Kenyans, on a diff erent level.
We have a pact with friends of ours to whom we are politically married: at means Jubilee will be running this country for a number of years," Kabogo said. Jubilee insiders say that Kiunjuri was appointed to the powerful Devolution ministry at Ruto's recommendation, pointing to a bigger plot.
The Devolution ministry is supposed to give Kiunjuri a national platform and appeal in preparation for 2022, Jubilee sources say. The CS surprised many when he accompanied Ruto to the Hague for the DP's last ICC court appearance. "
We leaders from the region are united in supporting the Deputy President and we do not want anyone to antagonise him.
Ruto did well for us and we must rally behind him in his bid for the Presidency in 2022," Kiunjuri said on June 12. Mt Kenya East has no problem with Kindiki emerging as the most preferred among them to take up Ruto's running-mate position. The Star has established that activities related to succession politics are handled on a two-tier approach – grassroots and national.
At the grassroots business people, local leaders, professionals and clan elders are involved in demanding support, with claims of isolation taking center-stage. At the national level, the President and Deputy President are directly involved, which has seen Ruto traverse the Mount Kenya region alone, hoping for bloc support at the 2022 elections.
A lot of the machinations are happening away from the glare of media to avoid what insiders say is too much scrutiny. Even yesterday, most politicians reached out to by the Star refused to comment on the matter. People privy to the meetings confirm they bring together politicians, religious leaders, village leaders, professionals and businesspersons keen to ensure they arrive at a consensus that captures the multiple factors that define politics in the region.
Also increasingly visible are the systematic intimidation and attacks on leaders who ambitiously harbour both gubernatorial and presidential ambitions by the elite operatives referred to as the Mount Kenya Mafi a. e Mount Kenya Mafia is keen to remain in full control of the region, keeping a strong grip on the political and economic landscape.
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