Fresh intrigues as Central split over Uhuru ambition

By Juma Kwayera

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential bid faces serious challenges in his Mt Kenya backyard following a concerted push by influential lobby groups to convince him to stand down in the interest of national healing and reconciliation.

The Kikuyu Council of Elders, while recognising Uhuru’s constitutional right to vie for political office, in resolutions made at Methodist Church headquarters in Nairobi on July 27, argues the stability of the country supersedes personal or individual ambitions. The meeting was a follow up of two previous ones.

However, in uncharacteristic show of might and defiance, Uhuru has embarked on repulsing incursions into his electoral territory that has shown cracks since the entry of Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and the United Democratic Forum (UDF) into the fray.

Perceptions that President Kibaki is partial to Mudavadi have thrown Central Kenya into confusion, although Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri, who is close to Uhuru, says Kibaki and Uhuru enjoy a healthy working relationship.
Mixed signals

“They work closely. Uhuru initiated the recent Cabinet reshuffle. The two consult regularly and the President implements 90 per cent of what Uhuru wants,” Kiunjuri, the Laikipia East MP says. The Assistant minister concedes there have been mixed signals on their relationship in the recent past. He predicts a significant shift after political party nominations, which he says will give a clear picture of political drifts in the populous region.

“They (Kibaki and Uhuru) sometimes seem to be at crossroads; they also appear to be playing games on their supporters. I talk to the two of them regularly. All I can say is we (in Mt Kenya) don’t want to be like a butterfly that flies itself into fire. We are treading cautiously,” he says.

The emerging realignment comes at a time when another group of progressive Kikuyus operating under the Kikuyus for Change umbrella is seeking to make a break with central Kenya power hegemony and resource allocation by pushing for the election of Prime Minister Raila Odinga to succeed Kibaki.

Meru rebellion
The rebellion extends to Meru counties, where Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, whose Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) publicly stated the region will no longer support the Kikuyu in the coming presidential poll. The Meru counties are either drifting to UDF or ODM. One of the elders pointed out: “Uhuru has lost the conservation. He can only dialogue. His events are being snubbed.”

Both the Kikuyu for Change and Kikuyu Council of Elders are informed by deep-seated anti-Kikuyu sentiments that precipitated in the ethnic conflagration of 2007-2008 triggered by the disputed presidential election. In a statement titled ‘Talking Points’, the elders observe that no community “has the desire, need or even capacity to either isolate itself from the rest of us or build an independent nation-state, or to get rid of others for that matter.”

Uhuru’s frustrations in Central, which his allies deny, are further compounded by reports that Kibaki has bought into the argument it is imprudent to be succeeded by a kinsman and is silently backing away from the Gatundu South MP, who in 2007 sacrificed his candidacy to support him.

ICC factor
Added to fears that Uhuru is likely to be indicted by the International Criminal Court over post-election violence that claimed 1,133 lives and displaced more than 500,000 people from their farms.

Centre for Multiparty Democracy chairman Justin Muturi, a strong Uhuru ally and founder member of the DPM’s party, The National Alliance (TNA), poured cold water on allegations of rifts in Mt Kenya politics.

“Anybody wishing to see any difference between Kibaki and Uhuru are suggesting the President should be campaigning for Uhuru. The claim is premature and unfounded,” says Muturi, emphasising the DPM still has the backing of the entire Mt Kenya and looks to tap into regions that did not vote for the President in the last election.

The region has produced two presidents – founding President and Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta and Kibaki.

Still, the emerging scenarios have transformed Mt Kenya into toss-up electoral district for Raila and Mudavadi, who have made inroads into a hitherto intransigent electoral bloc. The PM has on his side leading businessmen Joseph Kuguru, former Attorney-General Charles Njonjo, media mogul SK Macharia and Kiambaa MP and businessman Stanley Githunguri, and activists John Githongo, Maina Kiai and Wambugu Ngunjiri.

Uhuru, however, is not sitting back: he is responding to the challenge by putting together an election that will allow him to retain his clout in the next government through Parliament and Senate even if the charges of crimes against him being pressed by ICC rules him out of the running.

When The Standard On Sunday to spoke to Wachira Kiago, the chairman of the elders, he could neither confirm nor deny if they have sat down Uhuru. Instead, he says they address Uhuru as their son and it is up to him to accept their counsel.

“Our position is informed by sentiments from the grassroots. This is our country and what we want is peace. We want to do politics in a conducive environment. Uhuru to Mt Kenya is like the best athlete representing Kenya at the Olympics. We want other communities to pick their best and out of them we back one of them,” says Kiago, who together with Catholic priest Joachim Gitonga, ex-chief Gathecha and Mau veteran Muiruri Njuguna prayed for and blessed Uhuru as the Mt Kenya spokesman at Ihuura Stadium in March 2011.

The resolutions of the council are apparently informed by the ethnic animosity in 2007, out of which thousands of internally displaced people are yet to be resettled in the Rift Valley.

The ad hoc group says it wants to address “prejudice and ethnic suspicions first amongst members of the Kikuyu community themselves and between them and communities.”

Regional interests
The council chaired by businessman Wachira Kiago expressed apprehension the tussle to succeed Kibaki has the potential to plunge the country into the abyss as a result of competing ethnic and regional interests, plus the perceived Kikuyu hegemonic hold on national institutions and resources.

“One of the threats confronting our national stability and peace is ethnic suspicions and mistrust. Described variously as tribalism, Negative ethnicity or ethnic nationalism, it exists and thrives where people do not know or understand each other or hold little or distorted information... it is made worse in an environment of competition for scarce resources and opportunities where various members of ethnic groups often try to use their ethnic or tribal identities to maximise their advantage,” he says.