Why Peter Kenneths Return Is Causing Jitters In Mt Kenya

For a man often fabled for vanishing immediately after every General Election and re-emerging just in time for the next vote, statements by Peter Kenneth in the last few weeks have left many scratching their heads over his game plan, barely two years into President William Rutos Kenya Kwanza administration.

The former Gatanga MP, who was listed among the Azimio deputy president hopefuls in 2022 before the naming of Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua, was a key player in Raila Odingas unsuccessful presidential bid, but had taken a low profile until recently.

Mr Kenneth, himself a losing presidential candidate in 2013 with his Tunawesmake (we can make it) slogan, has recently stirred the restless Mt Kenya politics after abruptly coming out with salvos against Dr Rutos administration.

But is he simply making strategic one-off appearances or does he plan to sustain the onslaught at a time of debate on succession in the Azimio coalition and leadership in Mt Kenya?

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Asked whether he harboured political ambitions for the 2027 General Election, Mr Kenneth said: First things first, we have three more years to seek services we deserve, before we can later make our ambitions play out.

However, he cryptically added that like I have always said, tributaries are the ones that drain into the big river, Mt Kenya being that river, there is a need to always bear that in mind.

This could be interpreted to mean Mt Kenya, being a significant voting bloc, should be making independent political decisions and attracting other formations and regions to join in.

This is the time to get the benefits that our people aspire and get the reprieves they yearn for before we can start subjecting them to electioneering mode, he said. .

Mr Kenneths loyalist Mr Nduati Ngugia former Gatanga MPsaid: We are certainly up to something that will get defined soon, since too much is currently happening behind the scenes in the Mountain.

He said that there were efforts by top UDA politicians to reach out to the Kenneth camp to agree on certain issues even when technically we belong to the Kenyatta wing of politics.

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Mr Ngugi said: The unity that we are being told to forge does not necessarily mean we abandon our 2022 stand where we felt Mr Kenyatta was right to herd us into Azimio.

Our position is that we can unite as a people from Mt Kenya through collective desire for political, economic and social empowerment for our people and still pursue differing political formations .

He added that the Kenyatta wing has Mr Kenneth, Ms Karua and former Meru Governor Peter Munya as the leading lights to provide an alternative power-contest formation for 2027.

In recent weeks, there have been social media activities linking Mr Kenneth to Kenyatta's family and political inner circle and hinting at his possible endorsement as Mt Kenya region kingpin. His emergence after this apparently coordinated social media campaign has raised eyebrows.

Kikuyu Council of Elders chairman Wachira Kiago--who insists that Mr Kenyatta is the reigning kingpin since no dethroning ceremony has happenedsaid: We are aware of Mr Kenneths prime position in Mt Kenya politics and we consult with him once in a while.

This is despite Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguas allies insisting that Kenyatta's retirement was automatic dethronement. They maintain that by virtue of Mr Gachagua being the senior most Mt Kenya politician as of now, he is the kingpin.

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