Moses Kuria’s new party doomed to fail, say Mt Kenya leaders

Leaders from the Mt Kenya region have dismissed Gatundu South lawmaker’s formation of a party ostensibly to bargain for the region’s stake in future governments.

They described Mr Moses Kuria’s move as taking the region and the country backwards into ethnic-based political parties.

The leaders who include Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata, MPs Peter Kimari (Mathioya) Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) and Kimani Ichungwa (Kikuyu), Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru and her Nyeri counterpart Mutahi Kahiga termed Mr Kuria’s move as a pipedream, spelling doom on the party and reiterating that the Mt Kenya region will remain a Jubilee zone.

They advised Mr Kuria to abandon his party and come back like the proverbial prodigal son.

UNWISE
Mr Kang'ata said Mr Kuria risks being "dumped into a political desert" should he not abandon his ‘ethnic’ party.

“If Mr Kuria is serious on his presidential ambitions, let him leave his smaller outfit and come back to Jubilee to convince the leaders and the region on why he should be the party’s flagbearer, otherwise he risks being dumped into a political desert since the region is not ready to leave Jubilee,” he said.

On her part Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru said “it is unwise to define a party purely on a regional basis while the country is working towards uniting the nation and building national institutions.”

She observed that Jubilee will withstand the political turbulence up to 2022 and thereafter noting that the current problems the party is experiencing are normal in a competitive and dynamic political environment.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga laughed off Mr Kuria and wondered whether he has ever participated in a competitive election process for him to have the guts to create a party for the region and the authority to speak on behalf of Mt Kenya leaders.

“Has Mr Kuria ever participated in a competitive election process because I don’t know, he has been getting his seat from a silver platter and I wonder where he got the courage to create a party for Mt Kenya leaders. Jubilee is still a party to beat and his party will just join the many others that have been formed,” he told the Nation.

SELF-SEEKING

Kikuyu MP Mr Ichungwa, a Tanga Tanga diehard dismissed Mr Kuria opining that his move was aimed at countering the gains made by the Jubilee party of transforming Kenya’s politics from regional ethnic based to the progressive and agenda based.

“It is inconsequential, self-seeking and a clawback on the national integration and cohesion agenda, it falls flatly counter the gains realised by Jubilee party where competition was redefined from regional ethnic backgrounds to policies, program and agenda,” he said.

He vowed never to subscribe to such a party saying it was a move for Mr Kuria to their tribe to realise his ‘selfish deeds’.

On his part Mr Nyoro cautioned Mr Kuria to familiarise himself with the legal ramifications of promoting a competing political party.

“Mr Kuria and I have been sponsored by Jubilee party, I’m sure he knows the legal ramifications of promoting a competing political party and therefore I am not sure he would take that route. We folded smaller ethnic parties to form a big ideological based political party and it would be tragic to go back to the past,” he said.

ELECTIONS
Mathioya MP Peter Kimari urged Mr Kuria and Tanga Tanga movement to tone down their campaigns for 2022 saying the region has no vacuum for the kingpin stressing that President Uhuru Kenyatta would advise on the political direction of the region when the time comes.

“It’s unfair to keep the country in an electioneering mood. Mr Kuria and those bringing us their preferred presidential candidates should cool down and work for the people, when the time comes, Mt Kenya region and Mr Kenyatta will sit down and discuss the way forward of course under Jubilee party,” he said.

His comments were echoed by Kirinyaga Women Representative Wangui Ngirichi who said time was gone when electorates were hyped by parties.

“It is Mr Kuria’s right to form a political party but I don’t think it will gain momentum in Mt Kenya since it’s no longer the days when people were hyped by political parties but its now more about the individual,” she said.

Mr Kuria’s new Transformation National Alliance Party (TNAP) has been formed to accommodate those in Mt Kenya region who felt orphaned by the dissolution of The National Alliance (TNA) party.

The battle for the control of Mt Kenya votes follows the expected retirement of the region's political kingpin Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022.