A group of Members of County Assembly (MCAs) drawn from the Central Kenya region Wednesday expressed support for Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki as the region’s political kingpin.
The MCAs from Nairobi as well as 11 Mt. Kenya counties, namely including Murang’a, Kiambu, Laikipia, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Embu, Nyandarua, Nakuru, Isiolo, Meru and Tharaka Nithi, made the declaration in a joint address and subsequent statement to newsrooms on evening.
They resolved to rally behind Kindiki as the ideal link between the Mt. Kenya region and the Kenya Kwanza government.
The MCAs said the decision, which comes barely a week after 69 Members of Parliament from the region also declared Kindiki as their defacto leader, is tied to the belief that he will “champion the region’s development agenda and welfare.”
This was seen as part of the ongoing political onslaught on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over political supremacy in the region.
The MCAs reiterated their unwavering support to President William Ruto and his administration, saying that Kindiki would ensure that the region is united behind one nation.
“As grassroots leaders who interact daily with the people that we represent, faced with the many challenges on our welfare, we have identified and agreed as a region to rally behind the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration Prof. Kithure Kindiki who has agreed to be the champion of our region’s development agenda and our welfare,” read the joint statement.
“We have confidence in Prof. Kindiki’s competence, experience and capacity to advance our region’s development needs together with the interests of all the other regions, resulting in a country that develops as a whole, for the prosperity and benefit of all our citizens.”
The leaders termed the current supremacy battle in the region between that has pitted Kindiki against Gachagua as “divisive and retrogressive,” saying Mt. Kenya was becoming the nation’s laughing stock.
They echoed Ruto’s past sentiments of forging a united nation, noting that they would unite with all the other leaders under Kindiki to fast-track development in the region.
“As the President deploys mechanisms to fast-track completion of the stalled development projects and initiation of new ones, we urge all our leaders to champion for development in our region in a manner that preserves national unity,” they stated.
“Further, we take note of the conversations happening outside our region that seem to depict our leadership as ethnically divisive and retrogressive. We have basically become the laughing stock of this country. We are better than this!”
“We believe in the unity and indivisibility of Kenya. Kenya can only succeed as a whole and any attempt to divide our country along ethnic and parochial lines is backward, irresponsible and unhelpful. The current political conversations are negatively impacting our ability to champion the development interests of our people and derailing service provision, therefore disadvantaging our region,” they added.
The MCAs said Kindiki who is pushing for their welfare has agreed to give them feedback on the endorsement within 30 days.
They said he will champion their work terms, the ward development fund, their pension, the financial autonomy of county assemblies, and taxation of their motor vehicle reimbursement.
The declaration by the MCAs came hours after over 2,000 Njuri Ncheke elders also endorsed Kindiki as the Mt. Kenya East kingpin.
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