President Uhuru Kenyatta today held a meeting with a number of Gikuyu elders and political leaders from Mt. Kenya region at the State House in Nairobi.
According to reports by the Citizen Digital, a number of resolutions were passed during the quiet gathering, with President Kenyatta being endorsed as community’s leader, a position he was first given on November 30, 2012.
According to sources in the room, the Head of State has been asked to lead the community in political negotiations in order for it to be included in the next government when his tenure ends.
The President challenged the region’s smaller political parties to work with Jubilee in the community’s best interests to minimize vote splitting.
Parties in the region aligned with the ruling Jubilee Party and Azimio la Umoja were also entrusted with increasing voter turnout for ODM leader Raila Odinga, their preferred presidential candidate.
President Kenyatta stated that the region must generate enough MPs in both chambers of Parliament as a weapon of representation and collectivity in protecting its interests, notably in the areas of revenue sharing and lawmaking.
President Kenyatta reportedly recounted his feud with his deputy William Ruto, as well as what led to his now-famous March 9, 2018 handshake with his then-political foe Odinga, according to the sources.
After a fiercely disputed presidential election, the president reached out to Odinga to help stabilize the administration and assure peace and stability, according to the president.
He also commended Mt. Kenya MPs Jeremiah Kioni (Ndaragwa) and Kanini Kega (Kieni), as well as leaders such as Agriculture CS Peter Munya and NARC Kenya chairman Martha Karua, for sticking with him and the Jubilee Party during the upheaval, while others transferred their allegiance to DP Ruto.
