Mt. Kenya leaders at loggerheads over Limuru III conference

Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua and Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni have maintained that the Limuru III Conference slated for this Friday will go on as planned.

The two, who got the endorsement of the Kikuyu Council of Elders, said the conference would be issue-based and open to all attendees.

This is despite Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah saying the conference is zero-sum, given the resolutions will have no avenue for answers.

Karua and Kioni have billed Limuru III ostensibly to give direction to the Mt. Kenya region, which according to the two and organizers drawn from 31 parties will champion its interests.

However, simmering divisions have been apparent, from the onset, with leaders who conceived the idea, keeping off the Karua-Kioni led initiative.

“Our community has a right to determine and to say how they want to be governed. And in Limuru III, we are going to say exactly, how we want to be governed,” said Wachira Kiago, the Chairperson of the Kikuyu Council of Elders.

Karua added: “We have talked about leadership generally; we did not give any exception. Whether we expect there will be any people or any disruptors, we have just given a caution generally, and that is it.”

According to the organizers, the conference will audit dipping business fortunes in Mt. Kenya which they attributed to government policies as well as forging a united front, despite differences amongst their own political formations.

The government has, however, said there will not be mechanisms to address the resolutions reached during the conference.

“We cannot afford as the people of Kiambu, kuingia kwa siasa za ukabila. Unajua kuna wenye walikuwa wakikusanya watu, wakiwaambia kuna Limuru III ati kuenda kuongea mambo ya jamii. Jamii ambayo tutaongelelea ni jamii ya Kenya,” Ichung’wah said.

DP Gachagua added: “The President says a good idea gives way to a better idea. Let my sister Martha Karua, let Jeremiah Kioni instead of coming to disturb the people of Limuru when we are having floods and many other challenges, come we have an office.”

The conference comes barely a month after DP Gachagua sought forgiveness from First First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, regretting her dragging into political talks.

Gachagua while striking a unity tone, also extended an olive branch to former President Uhuru Kenyatta, following months of political uncertainty prompted by opposition protests, that some Kenya Kwanza leaders linked to the former President, as its financier.

“I am sorry for involving Mama Ngina Kenyatta in the last general elections politics. She is our mother. I therefore ask for forgiveness on behalf of our team for any inconvenience caused to her. I will never allow anyone to demean her or anyone from the region,” said Gachagua then.

“The former President Uhuru Kenyatta is our son. We worked together for 17 years and only disagreed for 2 years and now that’s the past. I pray for him in his retirement. Uhuru is one of us. We shall talk with everyone.”