ODM courts Meru to tilt elections balance

By ABDIKADIR SUGOW

With no local prominent politician seeking to become the occupant of State House after the March 4 elections, the Ameru community has now become a prime target for presidential aspirants.

With the significant role as potential kingmakers guaranteed, the Meru, Upper Eastern and Northern Kenya regions hold a crucial ace card that could prove to be the decisive game-changer in the political equation.

Aware of this, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has stepped up efforts to capture a significant portion of votes in the region for its presidential candidate, Prime Minister Raila Odinga. ODM’s strategists have an easy task following failure by Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi to convince the other political parties and presidential candidates to enter his Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), commonly referred to as the ‘Kiraitu Bus’.

Kiraitu is currently the most senior Meru politician who has been a close ally of President Kibaki, as they were together in Democratic Party, Narc and most recently the Party of National Unity.

Buoyed by the failure of Kiraitu to persuade The National Alliance party leader Uhuru Kenyatta and Wiper Democratic Movement leader and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to board his bus, ODM has mounted a major campaign to penetrate the Ameru community.

The tactical move to penetrate Meru, Embu and Isiolo in Upper Eastern is part of concerted efforts to secure 50-plus one per cent votes for Raila.

The party has won the support in at least seven constituencies in Tharaka-Nithi and Nyambene and hopes this will help Raila attain the requisite 25 per cent votes in 24 counties.

Although it has already made inroads into the Meru region and given several overtures to the Ameru community, ODM the suitor cannot claim to have it all in the basket as the bride is striking a hard bargain.

The PM on Wednesday met a delegation of top leaders and elders from the Ameru community who told him of their expectations, but he remained non-committal. Discussions are ongoing. The leaders and elders were to hold further consultations after returning to their base and another meeting is being arranged with Raila soon so that an amicable solution is reached.

The influential Njuri Ncheke council of leaders, which is the principal guardian of the Ameru culture and traditions and shapes their social and political destiny, is said to be holding serious deliberations.

For ODM to overcome the tricky part of securing the votes and to convince the Ameru it is serious with its cohabitation proposal, it has brought on board respected personalities to run the affairs of the party at the local and national level.

It is significant that ODM appointed Dr Henry Kathurima, a former administrator in security services sector who hails from Meru community, to head the ODM National Elections Board to oversee and administer party primaries.

ODM’s Eastern Province Co-ordinator Mpuru Aburi says the party has put in place formidable grassroots structures to harness votes and maintain an upper edge over political rivals.