The unprecedented political split in Mt Kenya region has led to leaders allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta hold a meeting with representatives of different political parties to present a united front.
This comes after the Party of National Unity, the Democratic Party and Safina said they will be coming together to form a national coalition.
Kirinyaga Governors Ann Waiguru, who addressed the press after the meeting, said the meeting was part of consultations they have been having as leaders from the region with the purpose of consulting the path they should take.
“We need to continue putting our people together to ensure we speak in one voice as a region in matters of social and economic aspects,” she said.
She said Mt Kenya leaders were ready to meet with other stakeholders to ensure all ideas are incorporated in the leadership and development of the country.
“We have been meeting as politicians but we now want to expand and include the business community and everybody else so that when we talk about the unity of the region, we will be meaning what we say,” she said.
Kioni echoed Waiguru’s sentiments stating that the region will only have a strong bargaining power at the national level if they spoke in one voice.
He said the meeting was for the purpose of improving socio-economic issues of their region area.
PNU, the Democratic Party and Safina said they are not a Mt Kenya coalition but will work for the welfare of the entire nation.
“We have agreed to work together on a joint platform ahead of 2022 elections and beyond. The committee will start work immediately and report back to us in seven days,” PNU national chairman David Kamau said.
At a meeting in Nairobi, they formed a nine-member committee, three from each party, to work out issues and details of coalition-building.
The committee is to report back in a week to the three parties’ leadership.
The parties said it will push for social and economic reforms aimed at making the country a mid-level economy.
Leaders at the meeting included Laikipa Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, PNU trustee George Nyamweya, DP chair Charles Kioni and representatives from Safina.