GEMA ROCKED BY WRANGLES

THURSDAY, 05 APRIL 2012 23:53 BY FRANCIS MUREITHI

DIVIDED: Kiraitu and Imathiu at the Gema meeting at Jacaranda Hotel on Tuesday. Photo/Charles Kimani.

A bitter fight has broken out in the Gikuyu Embu and Meru Association (Gema) pitting the old guard against the younger generation. The youthful leaders accuse the elders of plotting to lock them out of elective positions in the 2013 general elections. The thorniest issue is the plan by the elderly leadership to collapse the 28 political parties associated with Mt Kenya into a single alliance and with Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta as its candidate for president.

The youthful leaders believe that the elderly Gema leaders want to thereby monopolise the powers to issue party nomination papers for their preferred candidates for president, Members of Parliament, governors, senators and county assembly representatives. The elderly politicians are backed by rich businessmen from the region and who have been close to President Kibaki for many years, they believe.

The youth leaders are questioning the decision to make Uhuru the leader of the community and its flag bearer. “Our main fear is that once we collapse these small parties and everything else is under one alliance, some people will have taken power to sign and issue the nomination certificates for aspirants. We know who these people are and it is obvious they are not the young ones,” said a Gema official who attended the Gema leaders and MPs meeting at Landmark Hotel in Nairobi last Monday. “We know how the nomination process was conducted last election. Some youthful leaders who were rigged out decamped to little parties and eventually won the main election,” added the official.

Gema chairman Bishop Dr Lawi Imathiu told the Star yesterday that some people would not be allowed to hijack leadership of the cultural association. However he denied that there is infighting within the association. “Gema is not a political party. It is an association for cultural affairs. There are some people who want to come through the backdoor, tell them we will not allow that,” he said. “The position of patron is a very big position, it is not for everyone. Gema is not for the young or the old, it is for all. Those who want to speak about elections, let them come at the election time, not now,” he added.

Gema has now formed a special committee in response to the wrangles. It comprises some top officials and MPs from Central Kenya. They have been tasked with hammering a deal to evade an imminent rift between the old and youthful leaders. According to Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, who wants a single regional party, the committee should reach out to all political leaders from the region.

Uhuru is said to support the strengthening of all individual parties even though he would be the biggest beneficiary of an alliance if it materialized . So his close allies are exploring the possibility of him joining the National Alliance Party of Kenya headed by veteran politician Nginyo Kariuki. “What we want is an alliance of parties which can easily negotiate with other major parties or alliances from other regions. We don’t want to restrict ourselves to an alliance of one region,” said an Uhuru confidante yesterday.

Key parties associated with Mt Kenya region include PNU whose party leader is President Mwai Kibaki; PNU Alliance whose national recruitment coordinator is Kiraitu Murungi; and Kanu which is chaired by Uhuru.

Others are Martha Karua’s Narc Kenya; the Democratic Party of Kenya chaired by Joseph Munyao; Grand National Unity headed by Public Works assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri; the Kenya National Congress associated with Planning assistant minister Peter Kenneth; Safina headed by former Kikuyu MP Paul Muite; Mazingira Green Party associated with the late Wangari Maathai; Sisi Kwa Sisi associated with Kinangop MP David Ngugi; Chama cha Mwananchi associated with former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere; Farmers Party of Kenya headed by David Kigochi; Agano Party of Kenya led by David Mwaura Waihiga; and the Mkenya Solidarity headed by former minister GG Kariuki.

Karua’s Narc Kenya and Kenneth's KNC have already dissociated themselves from anything to do with Gema and maintained that they will independently field candidates right from the presidency to the county assembly. Another divisive issue is who will replace the late Njenga Karume as the association’s patron. Some youthful leaders have maintained that it is time they ascend to top leadership positions while the elderly are grooming one of their own to take charge.

Former Mungiki leader Maina Njenga is also scheming to capture Karume’s post, a plan that is viciously opposed by the Gema inner circle. Youths linked to Maina disrupted the Gema meeting in Limuru two weeks ago after the former Mungiki leader was denied a chance to address the gathering. The meeting ended in disarray.

The next day Maina called a press conference and claimed that he was denied the chance to address the 3,000 delegates because of the leadership row in Gema. Some insiders see the battle in Gema as between perceived 'Home Guards' and the 'sons of Mau Mau.' The outsiders complain that collaborators have been the main beneficiaries in post-Independence Kenya despite their fathers playing the key role in fighting British colonialism in the 1950s.