Kilemi Mwiria defection opens up Meru race

The presidential advisor on education, Dr Kilemi Mwiria. (Photo: Peter Muthoni/Standard)

Presidential advisor Kilemi Mwiria’s defection to Mandeleo Chap Chap (MCC) party has created a three-horse race for the Meru gubernatorial seat and complicated matters for Governor Peter Munya.

Mwiria will now face his arch-political rival, Governor Munya, who by all indications will run on a PNU ticket, and Senator Kiraitu Murungi, who is eyeing the Jubilee ticket.

“His defection has complicated the race. We thought he would battle it out with Kiraitu at the JP primaries and one would come out to face Munya. But the matrix has changed, and it is no longer clear how things will go,” said Akirigondu MCA Ambrose Gichunge.

Already, the race has been made hot by the bitter rivalry between Kiraitu and Munya, one-time bosom friends turned enemies by the former’s interest in the seat.

Munya has the support of a considerable number of Members of the County Assembly (MCAs), with 40 of them on his side against the senator’s 29.

But Kiraitu boasts of overwhelming support from the county’s MPs and counts on his side Mithika Linturi (Igembe South) Rahim Dawood (North Imenti), Kathuri Murungi (Imenti South), Mpuru Aburi (Tigania East), Joseph M’Eruaki (Igembe North), Kubai Kiringo (Igembe Central), Kinoti Gatobu (Buuri) and Woman Representative Francis Kajuju.

Vote blocs

Gichunge believes that Munya lost out more from Mwiria’s defection than Kiraitu - both Munya and Mwiria hail from Tigania while Kiraitu is from the populous Imenti region.

“If the Imentis vote for their son and Linturi rallies his Igembe backyard to Kiraitu, the contest will definitely tilt to the senator’s side,” said the MCA.

While defecting, Mwiria said he sensed the JP primaries would not be free and fair.

Mwiria accused the county’s Jubilee leadership, which he said was controlled by politicians who care only about themselves.

“The leadership of Jubilee Party in Meru is led by selfish leaders who care little for the party. They have proved to be partisan and non-transparent in the management of party affairs,” said Mwiria.

At a recent function, he told President Uhuru Kenyatta he had lost confidence in the county’s JP leadership. “There is a problem with Jubilee in Meru,” he said. At the back of his concerns was the election of Joseph Muturia as the Meru JP chairman and Alhaji Mwendia as secretary general.

The two were top officials of the Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) -- the party that sponsored both Kiraitu and Munya.

Mwiria lost narrowly -- by some 3,000 votes -- to Munya in the 2013 elections. His petition challenging Munya’s win was dismissed at the Supreme Court.

In an interview with The Standard on Saturday, Kiraitu dismissed Mwiria’s defection and accused him of betraying the President whom he is still serving as advisor on education.

“Mwiria actively participated in the elections of the officials of JP and praised the exercise as free and fair. It is therefore not fair for him to turn around and claim that he did not anticipate free and fair elections,” said Kiraitu.

But he acknowledged that both Munya and Mwiria were worthy political opponents who were not to be underrated.

“Mwiria mounted a strong contest against Munya in 2013, he is not a walk over. Munya too is not politically weak, but his major undoing is that he has not delivered anything in Meru,” he said.