Kenya's Most Authoritative Political Newspaper

Citizen Weekly

Sunday 1 February 2015

Is Kindiki sway enough in Meru to earn him running mate 2022

The majority leader of the Senate, Kithure Kindiki has been touted by a number of people as a presidential material to run with William Ruto come 2022 after the exit of Uhuru Kenyatta, should the president run and win in 2017.
Sources say Ruto’s move to groom Kindiki as his runningmate is on the understanding, the Kikuyu community will have their own in the 2022 presidential race and as history has shown, they will vote for their man and not an outsider. Fearing any eventuality, Ruto has to shift base to Mount Kenya East.
Kindiki is currently the seniormost political leader in the community and is seen to bear shoes many have worn at different times leaving many of their people either happy or crying for relieve. The soft spoken professor of Law ranks high in Jubilee administration and could also be said to hold a position no other person from the community has held ever since.
 Comparatively, the Tharaka Nithi senator, being the majority leader of the Senate, comes immediately after the president, deputy president and the Speaker of the National Assembly in the pecking order. Other Merus to have held cognisable powerful political positions in past administrations include Jackson Harvester Angaine, Kirugi M’Mukindia, Daudi Mwiraria and Meru county senator Kiraitu Murungi. The four Ameru politicians, who were powerful cabinet ministers of their time made significant contributions to the development and the well being of the Ameru community in different spheres,.
Interestingly, none of the other leaders ever harboured ambitions like those now in the shoulders and mind of Kindiki. However, it is instrumental to note that the majority leader has never independently propped himself as an interested person on the debate now consuming the village politician. He unlike the rest also comes from the Tharaka sub community of Meru. There is little history that can be associated with the senator compared with the others who are known to have fought major political battles to ascend to their positions. Worth to mention, Meru consists of five major sub tribes with a particular dialect though all familiar with the other. These are Igembe, Tigania, Imenti, Chuka and Tharaka.
Angaine came from Miriga Mieru of Imenti and represented Imenti North as the MP. The once powerful Lands minister in Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi governments will be remembered in different ways. Angaine, who proclaimed himself the king of Meru was a dreaded supporter of the late Jomo Kenyatta and at times claimed that there was no one who could match him in Meru either dead or alive. Being the cabinet minister for Lands at a time when a minister was a symbol of authority and power, was himself power. The man allocated himself vast tracts of land in all arable areas of Kenya and made sure that anyone who dared oppose him faced severe punishment. During the time of Angaine, a road was constructed from top of Mt Kenya to separate two constituencies just to show how powerful the man was. People belonging to Angaine’s clan were allocated land and given title deeds in the early 1960s and 1970s while those who were not of the clan were segregated to remote and hostile climatic areas so that they could know he was the man.
When Angaine differed with the then Tigania MP Jacob Mwongo, he made sure that Tigania land was left undemarcated while Imenti demarcation and issuance of title deeds went smoothly. Over the past years, there have been reported hostile boundary clashes between Tharaka, Imenti and Tigania. It is said that Angaine as the Lands minister allocated his people land even where others lived, gave them title deeds leaving the original owners occupying the same land as squatters. Angaine will be remembered as a leader who failed to unite the Ameru people only regarding himself as the king of Meru.
Kiraitu has been in parliament since 1992. He first went to parliament on a Ford ticket. He fought forth and back as a backbencher for 10 years and come 2002, he sailed through on Narc. Having supported Kibaki while in opposition, the Ameru were happy that their time had come to realise the gains of the hard fought for political pluralism. With Kiraitu and Mwiraria occupying central roles in government, Kibaki thought that he had finally rewarded Ameru people for their loyalty and support. Though nothing much can be said of Mwiraria as his star went dim almost immediately the Narc gave birth to the Anglo Leasing, a scandal conceived during the twilight years of Moi, Kiraitu went ahead to entrench himself as the new lynchpin of the community.
The senator was extensively mentioned in the underhand maneuvers to clip the expectations of other Ameru leaders and is said to have completely blocked them from accessing the presidency. His only salvation came when he managed to run on his own party to win the senate and reclaim his past community perceptions. The man now is an icon and anyone with the slightest imagination of unseating him will have to spend resources. The man fought life battles with people around Uhuru led by Mithika Linturi and casualties were all over. This came to pass and now there is a ceasefire in the community as all elected leaders speak in similar tones. The voice of the governor has not gone unheard. Peter Munya is a seasoned politician whom no one can under rate without consequences.
surrounding their political destructions. The only man he seems to have placed some respect to is Mithika Linturi.

No comments:

Post a Comment