The meeting attracting over 4000 guests, mainly local community and opinion leaders, was out of bounds for the media.

Guests are also said to have been barred from carrying phones and other recording electronics which were left at the search area. A few pro-government bloggers were exempted and have been informing the public on the developments in the meeting.

Speakers are reported to have been under instructions to use the vernacular languages of Gikuyu, Kiembu, and Kimeru while addressing the gathering.

Those who spoke were highly vetted leaders who are supportive of President Kenyatta and the handshake with ODM Leader Raila Odinga.

Among the development issues discussed include support for the coffee and tea sectors that are the backbone of the Mt Kenya region. Jubilee activist Zack Kinuthia also spoke on the need for youth-friendly policies in government.

Politics, however, did not escape the day as leaders sought to assure President Kenyatta that he remained the region’s kingpin.

Nyangarua Governor Francis Kimemia, in an apparent swipe at Deputy President William Ruto, called on President Kenyatta to start launching projects by himself – to prevent other opportunists from taking undue credit.

Ruto has in the past been accused by a number of leaders from the region of launching non-existsent projects or launching without coordination with other government officials.

Former Molo MP Njenga Mungai is also said to have spoken and criticized the so-called Tanga Tanga squad allied to Ruto.

Mungai said the Gema community in the Rift Valley was best protected by President Kenyatta and urged politicians to stop making comments that suggested the diaspora community was under siege.