Imminent sibling clash between Prof Kindiki and Kalonzo in Mt Kenya region

Prof Kindiki-Kalonzo sibling clash imminent in Mt Kenya region

By GAKUU MATHENGE

 nomination of Interior CS, Prof Kithure Kindiki, for appointment as replacement for Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua last Friday faces imminent headwinds in his quest for Mt Kenya leading light status if Wiper leader, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, succeeds in securing coronation as Gikuyu, Embu, Meru and Akamba (GEMA) spokesman.

The two who are being set up for imminent political clash share kinship and ancestral roots in Tharaka Nithi county from where all the Mt Kenya population sub-groups formerly known as Thaagicu siblings are descended.

 Before historical dispersal, the groups were known as Thaagicu or Thaicu or Thaishu before acquiring the contemporary popular acronym “GEMA” during the mass eviction from the city of Nairobi by the colonial government at the height of State of Emergency in the 1950s.

The subgroups’ last point of dispersed was “Igairo” (departure) in Cuka Igamba Ng’ombe area of Tharaka Nithi county according folklore, historical, and anthropological accounts.

In his 1969 doctorate thesis “A History of the Kikuyu 1500-1900” published in1970, Prof Godfrey Muriuki, writes: “from oral, linguistic and archeological evidence…the main body of the Kikuyu was preceded by early iron-age Bantu-speaking occupants …”

“Most probably these were the Thagicu, who spread from Meru to Kambaland, and from Tharaka to Kikuyu plateau. It is Thagicu who heavily intermingled with the previous populations such as Gumba and the Il Tikiri leading to cross-fertilization of ideas and institutions at a formative stage before the arrival of the present occupants. This then formed the first stage in the colonization of the highlands by the Mt Kenya peoples”

Prof Kindiki’s nomination for appointment as Deputy President of the Republic was explained as calculated to replace the incumbent as the political “bridge” between the Mountain region and the State House, according to a statement read by a faction of the Mt Kenya parliamentary caucus in Nyahururu on 12 September.

“Given the prevailing state of affairs and the urgency of the mission ahead, there is need for a linkage that will create a nexus between the (Mt Kenya) region and the national executive in matters development…” reads the statement that identified Prof Kindiki as the preferred “link” .

The release of the statement marked the beginning of a barrage of explicit public attacks on the office and person of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua unleashed by members of the parliamentary caucus faction, in addition to frenetic activities and processes that culminated in an impeachment vote by the Senate late Thursday night the 17^th September.

Parallel to the breathless execution of accelerated impeachment of the DP, and Prof Kindik’s elevation processes put on top gear, Wiper leader Mr Kalozo Musyoka, had rolled out his own volley into the Mountain region with a series of events inn readiness for a public declaration of the Kamba community as an integral part of the GEMA political and cultural cluster in ahead of 2027 General Elections.

The latest initiative to revamp and refurbish GEMA is being driven and championed by forces perceived to be political henchmen of retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, among them the vocal Kikuyu Council of Elders (KCE) and the leadership of former ruling Jubilee party among others.

 Sources intimated advanced steps towards the formal declaration of an expanded GEMA have already been concluded including preliminary cultural rites at the Mukurwe wa Gathanga traditional shrines in Murang’a county involving members of the Akamba, Njuri Ncheke, Aembu, Mbeere and Gikuyu Councils of Elders two weeks ago.

High level plans are at advanced stage for an elaborate event to make the discussions, developments, resolutions on the way forward public on a date and venue soon to be made public.

These expanded GEMA developments partly explain the loud and passionate defense of the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during Senate impeachment hearings last week by Wiper allied Senators led by Kitui Senator, Mr Enock Wambua.Wiper allied MPs were equally vehement on DP Gachagua’s side in the National Assembly debate on the special impeachment motion.

The emergence of Kalonzo Musyoka as a lead opposition voice with an aura of GEMA-crowned legitimacy in the mountain region riding on the negative sentiment generated by the Gachagua impeachment saga, sets him up against Prof Kindiki-led government side brigade keen to down play the brutal ejection of Gachagua from his powerful second in command perch, and their quest to mollify the region in good time for 2027 re-election campaigns for President Willian Ruto.

Coming days and weeks are bound to be really fascinating to see if Kenya Kwanza 2027 re-election re-alignments will succeed in pivoting the fulcrum of the highlands politics towards the east of the mountain from the west-Kikuyu land or Central Kenya- where it has historically centered since organized resistance against British colonialism began over 100 years ago.