Njuri Ncheke to elect top leadership in three months

Njuri Ncheke patron, Ambassador Francis Muthaura

The Meru Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders will conduct elections in the next three months to pick members of the supreme council in a bid to end a three-year leadership row.

The dispute has seen two factions claim leadership of the top decision- making organ of the Ameru.

In a meeting at the Nchiru shrine Saturday, the council also unveiled its first written constitution which proposes a term limit for top officials and an elaborate leadership structure.

A mediation group unveiled the constitution which also provides for rotation of the top posts among the six local sub-tribes.

It was drawn by a team led by former Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority boss Justice Aaron Ringera, now of the East African Court of Justice. The committee comprised former MPs Joseph Muturia and Mathew Adams Karauri who will also be part of the nominations team that will supervise the council elections.

The constitution provides a five-year term for chairman and secretary general who will also sit in the supreme council. Once they retire they will take up ex-officio positions in the general committee as Emeritus Chairman and Emeritus Secretary General.

The rotation sequence between the Ameru sub-tribes will be determined by the supreme council by secret ballot.

“We see this meeting as historical because it introduces new changes that clear matters about leadership changes and distribution of power among all the Ameru,” the meeting convenor and Njuri Ncheke patron, Ambassador Francis Muthaura, said.