Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki seeks Ameru unity ahead of 2022

Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki addresses elders after being installed as Njuri Ncheke elder and Ameru community spokesperson in January. He is believed to be preparing to be Deputy President William Ruto's running mate in the 2022 polls. [PHOTO: PATRICK MUTHURI/STANDARD]

Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki has called for unity among leaders of the larger Meru.

Speaking at a fundraiser at the St Stephen Methodist Church in Buuri on Sunday, the Thraka Nithi Senator said unity among leaders from Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties was paramount to bolster the area’s bargaining power in national politics.

In an apparent reference to his interest in the deputy president job in the 2022 elections, Prof Kindiki said he was working on putting the area on the national political map and inviting like-minded leaders to join him in this quest.

He said the region fully supports President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, and will rally behind Deputy President William Ruto in 2022 elections. He was flanked by Njuri Ncheke elders from all the 11 constituencies, the clergy and educationists from the two counties.

“After Uhuru, we will support Ruto. Meru will be in the mix and it is only Ruto who knows who will be his deputy. Our political commander is Uhuru and Ruto is his deputy. Mimi ni mtu ya mkono tu! (I am just a spanner boy),” Kindiki said.

He continued: “Tomorrow’s journey is planned today. All Meru leaders should shun confrontations and insults. We are one, and unity will make as stronger and a force to be reckoned with,” he said.

The senator and Meru Governor Peter Munya have been touted as potential running mates for Ruto in the 2022 elections, but Kindiki said his focus at the moment was uniting of all leaders in the two counties.

MUTUAL RESPECT

“The region known as Meru spans from Thuci to Ntonyiri and the unity that existed from the beginning must continue for the sake of the people,” said Kindiki.

And speaking in Meru County recently, Kindiki retaliated that he respected local Senator Kiraitu Murungi and Munya. “Our slogan now should be unity and mutual respect so that we can forge forward as one,” Kindiki said. Paul M’Ithinkia, a member of Nchuri Ncheke, said Kindiki is one of the most educated lawyers in Kenya and elders will support his political and development ambitions for Ameru.

He spoke two days after nominated Meru MCA accused Kindiki of unnecessary interference in the affairs of Meru County.

“It is high time Kindiki realised that Meru has its own senator and governor and concentrated his politics in Tharaka Nithi,” said Alhaji Mwendia in a rally attended by Munya in Kianjai market in Meru North.

Meanwhile, Kindiki has asked CORD to stop negative criticism of the Jubilee Government.

The Tharaka Senator said President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto deserve to be commended as they had rolled out several projects aimed at uplifting the living standards of Kenyans, especially the poor. “When Jubilee took over in 2013, electricity connection to businesses cost Sh70,000. The next year it was brought down to Sh35,000, and just the other day it went down to Sh15,000,” said Kindiki when he toured Buuri constituency in Meru County on Sunday.