The Gikuyu, Embu and Meru Association (GEMA) will vote for an “outsider” come 2022, Gatundu MP Moses Kuria has said.
According to the lawmaker from the vote-rich Mt Kenya region, the decision to vote for an outsider was made in 2013 after President Uhuru Kenyatta took office.
“I want to tell Kenyans to come back to reality. The GEMA community is going to support an ‘outsider’ for the presidency, and that should not be questioned,” he told TV47.
He was referring to the region supporting a Deputy President William Ruto presidency. The DP is poised to take over the reins of power from his boss who is rumoured to be in support of a coalition between Gideon Moi and Musalia Mudavadi.
Read: Moses Kuria Denies Having Interest In Nairobi Top Seat
In 2013 when Uhuru first came together with Ruto, the former promised to support the latter for a 10 year term.
“Yangu kumi na ya Ruto kumi, ” the president told the people.
The marriage between the two has since fallen apart with the DP canvassing even as his boss has called for a suspension of political campaigns to give room for development.
Asked if the people of Mt Kenya will unite in the next general election, Kuria said, the people have in the past come together of their own volition.
“Mt Kenya people have been united in almost all elections in Kenya. In 2022, nobody will tell them to walk together, because it is something they have done calculatedly for so long,” he added.
In the recent past, the ODM camp has been jittery on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp, accusing top government officials of plotting 2022 succession politics at the expense of Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
Read: Mixed Reactions as Raila’s Camp Claims Handshake in Trouble
In a bold statement in his Siaya backyard over the weekend, Senate Minority Leader and Raila’s right-hand man James Orengo alleged a plot to sabotage the March 9, 2018, handshake between the Head of State and the ODM leader as part of efforts to deny him a chance to succeed the former.
Orengo claimed that there are “cabals” in government led by senior civil servants who had hijacked the President and Raila’s pet project, the Building Bridges Initiative, kicking out the BBI Secretariat that was key in the implementation of the initiative, for their selfish interests.
The leaders, whom Orengo claimed have been sponsoring violence in recent by-elections, are reportedly pushing for a Senator Gideon Moi Presidency.
At one time, President Kenyatta promised that his candidate for Presidency in 2022 “would surprise many”, putting into question his promise to Ruto.
Additional reporting by Francis Muli.
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