Forget the presidency, Wamalwa tells Luhya leaders

Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has asked top Luhya politicians to forget the presidency.

According to the minister, who has defied calls to refrain from active participation in politics, none of the key western Kenya leaders can attract national support for State House.

Mr Wamalwa described campaigns for a single Luhya presidential candidate in 2017 as a “waste of time.”

Mr Wamalwa said President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Jubilee Party of Kenya would easily clinch victory in next year’s poll, noting that leaders from western were busy engaged in divisive politics and undermining each other.

He said it was laughable for those who have declared they would contest the presidency to be preoccupied with forming new parties instead of mobilising communities to register as voters in large numbers.

Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula and former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo have declared they will contest the presidency.

Mr Wamalwa, who spoke in Mumias East constituency on Friday evening, said Kakamega and Bungoma counties had registered the lowest number of voters so far and yet politicians were doing nothing about it despite their clamour for the presidency.

LACK SUPPORT
He said Mr Mudavadi, Senator Wetang’ula and Mr Jirongo should forget the presidency, claiming they lack the support of other communities.

“The Luhya community has stood together but has been let down by leaders who are always engaging in supremacy battles that has been the undoing in the quest for presidency,” said Mr Wamalwa.

The CS told off politicians accusing him of engaging in active campaigns in support of the Jubilee and said he would not be cowed by their threats to have him impeached.

Mr Wamalwa said he had accepted to join the Jubilee administration to ensure Luhyas were was not sidelined from the government.

He said he would serve as CS until February 2017 when he would decide whether to contest a political seat.

Mr Wamalwa, who presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed Wanga College of Science and Technology in Lusheya-Lubinu Ward, said President Kenyatta will be in western region for two weeks to commission development projects in the region.

Former Cabinet Minister Dr Noah Wekesa said the Jubilee Party of Kenya National Steering committee will launch aggressive campaigns in Kakamega next Friday to popularise the party.

MPs Benjamin Washiali (Mumias East), Dan Wanyama (Webuye West), Janet Nangabo (Woman rep Trans-Nzoia), Arthur Odera (Teso North), Bernard Shinali (Ikolomani) and David Lazaro (Saboti) said their support for Jubilee was unwavering.