IS WAIGURU UHURU'S ANSWER TO KARUA IN KIRINYAGA COUNTY POLITICS?

A plot by top Jubilee operatives to clip Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua’s political wings within her Kirinyaga county has been hatched. A section of Kikuyu politicians and power brokers close to President Uhuru Kenyatta are behind last week’s tour by the president to Karua’s hometurf of Kirinyaga county.

Analysts now say it is the referendum fever that forced Uhuru to tour the county and to attend the homecoming party of Anne Waiguru, the Devolution and Planning cabinet secretary. The meeting is said to have had two objectives. One, to launch an onslaught against Karua and those pushing for the referendum debate and two to install Waiguru as the de facto leader of the Kirinyaga county and propel her to greater political settings. 

According to sources well versed with the tour, State House is not happy with Karua’s endorsement of Cord’s referendum “Okoa Kenya” imitative and it is now time to tame her. The appointment of Waiguru to the position of Devolution and Planning cabinet secretary was a well calculated move to counter Karua’s influence in Kirinyaga politics.

Waiguru is today the most powerful woman in the Mount Kenya region, a position that Karua held for many years when she was referred to as “iron lady” and the only “man” in President Mwai Kibaki’s PNU. Today, Waiguru is the most trusted CS who has Uhuru’s ears 24 hours a day.

The appointment of former Finance minister Robinson Githae as Kenya’s ambassador to Washington DC in the US, is yet another plot to curtail Karua’s influence in Kirinyaga. Waiguru comes from Karua’s Gichugu constituency while Githae comes from Ndia. Just like Waiguru, although both Githae and Waiguru’s positions do not have serious political clout, they will be calling the shots on political issues on the ground being the president’s direct appointees.

During the last general elections, Karua was beaten hands down by Uhuru in the presidential race in Kirinyaga county. In Gichugu constituency, Karua got a paltry 1,460 votes against Uhuru’s 57,104 votes. In the entire Kirinyaga county, Karua garnered 2,438 votes against Uhuru’s 231,868 votes.

During Kibaki’s tenure, Karua was the one calling the shots in Kirinyaga county politics together with Githae who was also a Narc-Kenya MP. It was also the defeat of Karua and Githae in the last general elections that created a serious power vacuum in the county that Uhuru moved fast to bring on board Waiguru and now Githae.

The talk of the county after the tour is that could Uhuru be preparing Waiguru for a big political post in 2017? Although, Waiguru has no history in participating in elective politics, sources close to her now say that come 2017, she is likely to contest the Kirinyaga gubernatorial seat. Kirinyaga governor Joseph Ndathi must now be a worried man considering that Waiguru is a close confidante of Uhuru.

But even as calls on Karua by top Kikuyu politicians and professionals to abandon opposition politics and join Uhuru continue, Karua has reacted through personal tweets saying “President Uhuru as leader of official opposition teamed up with Raila and the DP in 2005 to 2007 to keep the Kibaki government on its toes!”.