North Rift Kikuyu elders speak on 2022 politics

Kikuyu North Rift leaders during a press conference in Eldoret on June 28, 2018. They dismissed claims that the Kikuyu community will not support Deputy President William Ruto in his 2022 presidential bid. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The elders told Jubilee leaders to put aside their differences and focus on fulfilling the government’s 'Big Four' agenda.

Members of the Kikuyu Council of Elders in the North Rift and businesspeople from the community have told off a section of politicians from Central whom they accuse of orchestrating divisions in the Jubilee coalition.

The elders on Thursday told the leaders to focus on uniting the country and stop engaging in empty political rhetoric and ethnic division.

RIFT

Addressing the press in Eldoret, the elders called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to come out clearly and declare his stand on claims of widening rift in the Jubilee and whether he still supports his Deputy President in his 2022 presidential ambitions.

The elders accused some elders and politicians from Central of seeking selfish political interests without minding the safety of their people residing in other parts of the country.

“Leaders should be in the forefront in uniting the country and the Jubilee Party. The elders should also be sensitive of their remarks and be mindful of the whole community,” said Mr Joseph Keriri, a businessman in Eldoret.

“We should not fall into the traps of our enemies. We are all in Jubilee and forming other parties now will derail Deputy President William Ruto statehouse bid. We should ensure that we remain united at this crucial time,” said Gema National Organising Secretary Paul Kinyanjui.

The elders told Jubilee leaders to put aside their differences and focus on fulfilling the government’s 'Big Four agenda.

Some of the members of the leaders were quoted recently asking the DP Ruto to retire together with president Kenyatta when his term expires in 2022.

But the elders from North Rift have sought to distant themselves from their counterparts’ remarks.

INTERESTS

“We have no shortage of leaders in Rift Valley. People outside this region should not purport to speak on behalf of the community as we know the problems we’ve faced in the past. We can manage our own affairs,” said Uasin Gishu County Jubilee Party patron Joseph Wainaina.

“This time round, members of the Kikuyu community will not accept to be sacrificial lambs for people pursuing their own selfish interests. We know our problems and nobody will divide us this time,” added Mr Wainaina.

At the same time, the elders challenged leaders from central who lost in the last elections to stop laying blame on other people as it was the electorate who send them packing.

“MPs who failed to clinch their seats should accept and move on. It’s the people who send them home. They should not look for scapegoats,” said Kikuyu Council of eEders North Rift Coordinator Stephen Gathuo.

A rift has been brewing in the ruling Jubilee with claims that some forces were out to curtail the DP’s 2022 presidential bid.

DISCORD

Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen on Sunday confirmed that all is not well in President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party adding that the rifts have been caused by a clique of “individuals serving within government at the Office of the President”.

“We have a concern about the existence of a small wing of individuals serving within government at the Office of the President, government ministries who are spending most of their time to plant discord in the Jubilee Party,” Mr Murkomen said during a live interview on Citizen TV on Sunday night.

The Elgeyo Marakwet senator claimed those fighting Mr Ruto were out to curtail his 2022 presidential ambition, and cause a fallout between him and the president.

“If the president and deputy president do not sit down together and say the direction that these things are taking is not useful to Jubilee as a party, the government, Kenya as a nation and in the legacy of the president; if they do not face those issues fairly and squarely and bring those persons within government into account, such small cracks will cause a bigger problem,” said Mr Murkomen.