Uhuru
downplays supremacy battles in Meru tour
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Updated 7 hrs 10 mins ago
By Wainaina Ndung’u
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta last
weekend excursion in the Mt Kenya East has demonstrated he might still be
popular in the region.
Local politicians say the deputy premier
appeased his loyal but often provocative lieutenants without antogonising senior
Meru politician and Cabinet minister Kiraitu Murungi, who leads the Alliance
Party (APK) of Kenya.
Uhuru’s spokesman Munyori Buku says the turnout
at the rallies in Tigania and Igembe demonstrated TNA hold political sway in
the region.
Uhuru also had a brief rally at Gakoromone
market in Meru town. A late evening rally planned for Makutano in the new Buuri
constituency was called off on account of time.
His party TNA finds itself in a situation of
virtual intra-alliance conflict in the Meru region, characterised by ugly
exchanges between Kiraitu and his allies on one side and pro-Uhuru diehards
such as Assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki on the other.
APK had warned in a mobile phone text message
shortly before the DPM’s two-day visit that it expected the meetings to respect
opinions of the locals.
Uhuru kept off the anti-APK tirade during the
rallies but Assistant Minister Mwangi Kiunjuri’s analogy of three wild cows
that were divided and finally annihilated by a lion was most striking.
Kiunjuri’s tale repeated in all rallies on day
one of the visit had three cows – one black, the other white and another red –
being used against each other by a lion interested in devouring them.
“The lion first convinced the red and white cow
that it only attacked them constantly because of the black cow. Once the two
agreed to let the black animal be eaten, the carnivore approached the white cow
convincing it that it would suffer a lightning strike because of the red
colleague. Finally, the white cow was alone and easy to strike,” said Kiunjuri.
Opening the Maua TNA office on Saturday, the DPM
ruled out direct nomination of aspirants.
Strong ties
Alhaji Mwendia, a key supporter of Kiraitu, said
Uhuru’s visit deliberately concentrated in Meru North and avoided Imenti where
the Energy Minister is seen as having considerable influence. Mwendia, who is a
Nkubu town councillor and APK Meru County Secretary, said Uhuru retained
impeccable ties with Kiraitu and they were still working on a formula to unite
the horde of parties supporting the Deputy Prime Minister’s presidential bid.
The councillor said a meeting early last week
between Uhuru and Kiraitu in Nairobi cleared the initial outstanding issues
between the two parties over the visit.
The DPM’s spokesman, however, declined to
comment on the meeting but the councillor claimed one of the agreements was
that the DPM was to avoid visiting Imenti, which is Kiraitu’s home area and
believed to be APK’s support base.
It was the first visit by the DPM to the region
since his (Uhuru) decision to launch TNA rather than join the alliance ‘bus’.
Last month, Kiraitu spoke bitterly about his
parting with Uhuru, saying he still held the hope that a political pact signed
by Uhuru, Prof George Saitoti and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka would still
come to pass.
Councillor Mwendia claimed the problem in Meru
was not about competition between pro-Uhuru parties entirely but the popularity
of some outgoing MPs who are scared of losing their seats and see likely
salvation in the emergence of Uhuru and TNA. “There is a big crowd of
politicians in larger Meru using Uhuru’s name and his new party to try and
revive fledging political careers,” said Mwendia, without giving names.
Drama had played out in the first rally that the
DPM held in Igembe North constituency of Nthoita M’Mithiaru, a Kiraitu ally.
The MP skipped the first stop at Mutuati market
and an earlier visit to the families of eight people killed by bandits in the
area recently. The MP preferred to instead to wait at Laare market, five
kilometres away.
The master of ceremonies at the Mutuati rally
was Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi, who took the opportunity to introduce
Joseph M’Eruaki who is seeking to challenge M’Mithiaru.
Not surprisingly, gauging from a likely tumulus
reception at Laare – the next stop – Linturi declined to speak after an
invitation by the area MP. Notable in that rally was that M’Mithiaru also
brought the apologies of the Energy minister and warned against anybody
attacking any leaders on that podium.
At other rallies in Linturi’s own constituency
and the newly created Igembe Central, more TNA leaning aspirants were
introduced.
Allied to APK
Of the nine Meru County MPs, M’Mithiaru together
with Tigania East MP Peter Munya and Imenti North’s Silas Muriuki are seen to
be allied to APK apart from the ODM-leaning Gitobu Imanyara of Imenti Central.
The leaders steered clear of launching direct
attacks on their ‘bus’ party counterparts until the Maua TNA office launch on
Saturday when an increasingly provocative Mbiuki raised the issue of political
deity.
“Some senior leaders in Meru County are seeking
to elevate themselves to a deity. We refuse to worship anybody and Uhuru
doesn’t require the permission of anyone to visit this county,” said Mbiuki.
The DPM, who flew into the area in a chopper on
Friday, was with Assistant ministers Kilemi Mwiria, Kiunjuri, Ferdinand Waititu
and Mbiuki and MPs Linturi, Mburi Mwiru, Maishon Leshomo and Gidion Mbuvi
‘Sonko’.
Uhuru’s notable promises to residents included
construction of more police posts and allowing members of the Meru community in
areas neighbouring bandit-prone pastoral regions of Isiolo to have armed home
guards.
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