The political battle between Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki over the control of the vote-rich Mt Kenya region escalated after over 2000 Njuri Ncheke elders joined the fray.
The elders drawn from Meru, Embu, Mbeere and Tharaka met at the Njuri Ncheke shrines in Meru County today where they endorsed Prof Kindiki as the Mt Kenya kingpin and their link to President Ruto.
Following a similar script initiated by 21 MPs from Meru, Embu and Tharaka, the elders said it was time that Mt Kenya East made her own decision without undue influence from their cousins from Mt Kenya West. They said Prof Kindiki will be their leader as they blessed him and urged him to represent them well.
Last week a group of 48 MPs from Mt Kenya West met in Nyahururu and declared that Prof Kindiki is the region’s spokesperson and link to the presidency side-stepping the self-declared Mt Kenya kingpin and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
The declaration immediately caused a huge backlash with those supporting Gachagua dismissing it as inconsequential and a plot by forces outside the region to divide Mt Kenya.
Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa led the pro-Gachagua MPs declaring that the DP was the region’s undisputed kingpin and spokesman and that the link between the Presidency and the people is Parliament. He said choosing another link is tantamount to declaring the seat of the Majority Leader held by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa as redundant and useless.
Gachagua on his part said forces outside Mt Kenya region were responsible for the divisions that are being created and threatened to name at the right time.
He said most of the people fighting him are people he personally campaigned for and who have turned against him and were ready to pay good with evil.
Gachagua said on his part he will continue to listen to the people and do what they want and will not engage is lies or premature politics. He said elections are long gone and it was time for all leader to serve the people and not to engage in politics all the time.
