UDA in bid to woo Kiraitu Murungi to political pact

From left: Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi, Council of Governors (CoG) CEO Mary Mwiti and Meru Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu during a consultative meeting on devolution at a Meru hotel. [Phares Mutembei, Standard]

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is piling pressure on Governor Kiraitu Murungi to agree to a political pact.

Deputy President William Ruto's party confirmed that it has been wooing Mt Kenya's longest-serving politician, but are getting fatigued by the period it is taking the governor to make up his mind.

Winning Kiraitu over would be a major win for a party that recently brought Tharaka Nithi's Muthomi Njuki to its side, prompting Senator Kithure Kindiki to opt out of the governor race.

But Meru is proving to be a hard nut to crack with Kiraitu characteristically taking his time to make any announcements.

UDA has started fronting Meru Senator Mithika Linturi to run against the veteran politician in what some Jubilee insiders said was a red herring to have Kiraitu support Ruto's party.

Kiraitu did not directly respond to these developments but his deputy, Titus Ntuciu, said they would forge on with their plans for reelection, and would not be pushed to make any hasty political decisions.

"We are also hearing those rumours and we are ready for any rivals. We will face him head-on just as we were ready for Munya. Whoever has misled Linturi to go for governor's seat will mess his political future because even Ruto might not be president at the end of the day," Ntuciu said in an interview.

Sources within UDA claim Linturi has been given a go-ahead to launch his bid on March 15 with an Igembe opinion sharpers meeting set for Laare township in Igembe North.

Although Linturi denies it, invites for the meeting at a hotel near Laare are already out and the UDA top brass has already given its blessings and probably even bankrolled it.

Close allies of Linturi said he was given the go-ahead at the meeting held on the sidelines of Ruto's visit to Nyeri last weekend.

A close ally quotes a top UDA leader telling the Meru senator to declare his candidature seeing the hesitation exhibited by Kiraitu despite months of negotiations and assurances that he was on Ruto's side. 

Linturi yesterday confirmed that there have been negotiations with Kiraitu to be the UDA governor candidate.

But he denied claims that he was being pushed to by UDA to run against Kiraitu, saying that the pressure was from his Igembe backyard, which is one of the Meru regional blocs alongside Kiraitu's populous Imenti and Peter Munya's minority Tigania.

"I am one of the UDA principals so the question of being pushed is neither here nor there," Linturi said in a telephone conversation.

"He is however taking too long to make up his mind."