Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu has told Mt Kenya politicians keen on succeeding President Uhuru Kenyatta as the region’s kingpin to hold their horses and first assist him to fulfil his Big Four agenda.
“This is the kind of thing that got Deputy President William Ruto in trouble. He believed that he would be able to take over from the President even in Mt Kenya region,” he said on Monday in his Nyeri town office.
The legislator said anybody who hopes to take over the leadership of the region needs to be patient and wait until the President delivers his Big Four agenda.
“In a country that has the kind of ethnic politics that we have, the feeling across the country is that the presidency belongs to the Mt Kenya region,” he said.
“If you come from this region and you ever want to be part of national leadership, then you need to do everything you can to make sure that the President succeeds in what he needs to do by the end of this term.”
The success or failure by the President is going to judge all Mt Kenya leaders, he said.
“Anybody trying to position himself now is just climbing the wrong mountain as far as I am concerned,” he said, adding that there is no leadership vacuum.
On Saturday, MPs Nduati Ngugi (Gatanga), Peter Kimari (Mathioya) and Gichuki Mugambi (Othaya) hailed Peter Kenneth as a good leader who left a legacy as an MP and therefore ideal to take over Mt Kenya.
Nduati said Kenneth did a sterling job during his tenure as Gatanga MP and urged Uhuru to consider giving him a job in his Cabinet.
They spoke at Mabae Primary School in Gatanga during a water project inspection tour organised by Water PS Joseph Wairagu.
Kenneth said he was ready to work with the President to help him fulfil his pledges to Kenyans.
MP Wambugu further criticised the formation of political parties by some Mt Kenya politicians, saying they were just setting up opportunities for income generation during the next general election.
“These small parties become a source of income for the owners where you go and pay them a certain amount of money, and they give you a ticket so that you can have an opportunity to run,” he said.
Among people who have started political parties in Mt Kenya region include Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria’s Transformation National Alliance Party (TNAP), the Civic Renewal Party (CRP) associated with Murang'a Governor Mwangi wa Iria and the newly formed The Service Party (TSP) by former Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri.
Edited by A.N