Who will be the next political King of Meru?

Alex Kiambi

By Alex Kiambi

Since independence, Meru has always had a king whom the community looked up to for political guidance and chaperoning. Albeit this was quite a situational occurrence it had its way of being respected. Words from these leaders were taken as an entire community inclination.

Though with the passage of time and shifts in political dynamics, these “kingpins” carry some weight but necessarily not the community in its entirety.

As new youthful progressive minds emerged and began questioning the status quo while triggering the people for a broadband sort of reasoning.

For almost two decades, Jackson Angaine abrogated the King of Meru title and it seemed universally accepted. No one dared him until later in the 80’s when he faced a real affront of his Political grasp. Angaine was the Kenyan First President blue-eyed boy who was more than obedient to the extent of being entrusted with the very sensitive Lands ministry post-independence. With the colonialists leaving and others especially large-scale farmers opting to remain behind, the land was a “hotspot” issue. For starters, land was the biggest trigger for Kenyans to take up arms and fight for their independence. The British had forcefully acquired large tracts, especially in the very arable areas, and pushed out the indigenous Africans.

Much can be said of the Angaine tenure as “King of Meru “but with his exit, a sort of vacuum occurred. Meru seemed not to have a central political figure of reference and with the emergence of multiparty and the community overwhelmingly having sided with the opposition, President Moi was keen on ensuring a very divided community which would make it easy to manipulate. Between 1992 and 2002, Meru politics were mostly driven by how their sons and daughters were doing in the opposition.

It was not until after 2002, when KANU was heavily defeated by the NARC Coalition Kiraitu got his chance to shine at the national level. He was appointed to a newly created yet powerful ministry of Justice and Constitutional affairs by President Mwai Kibaki.

Merus are known as braggarts of their powerful sons and appreciate them without hindrance to their achievement. Kiraitu was our new blue-eyed boy, with a stellar journey in the second liberation and now a very powerful minister in a very functional government of Kibaki. The man from Murungurune village of south Imenti was never disappointed either. He endeared himself and when he spoke, Kenya interpreted it as Meru not just Kiraitu.

With Kibaki’s exit and implementation of a new constitution, Kiraitu was instrumental in setting up the new county government of Meru. His preferred candidate Peter Munya won through a hotly contested gubernatorial election trouncing his closest rival with a meager three thousand votes.

With such an arrangement Kiraitu being at the Senate and Munya running the county, it seemed a well-oiled political machine until they fell out towards the end of 2015 and Kiraitu was getting interested in the gubernatorial seat and seeking to dislodge Munya.

With Munya running the county, he had a chance to move around and create networks and friends. Still, it’s a fact that  Munya is not the kind to shy away from a contest and a brilliant sharp political brain. In his stint, he’d managed to consolidate himself here in Meru that when Kiraitu officially announced his candidature to challenge him, Meru was dangerously slit into almost two equal parts. Kiraitu had underestimated Munya.

With this, another center of power had emerged in Meru Peter Munya; to whom his supporters were loyal to a fault and his haters did it with a passion. His boldness and courage when challenging the government were admired immensely and conferred the traditional title of LAING’O, which loosely translates to a mythical champion warrior of the Tigania community; others called him the Lion while his detractors considered him a provoker and unthankful, especially towards an elder like Kiraitu whom they supposed helped him become Governor.

Essentially, Meru had two Kings now who were not ready to reconcile and converge for the greater good. Their wars would come back to haunt them and eventually cost them heavily in the 2022 elections. Despite the two being on the Azimio side of the political divide, they could not bring themselves to one table and carry a combined, well-coordinated campaign for their Presidential candidate.

It’s said Munya supported the current Governor against Kiraitu covertly though not much since many of his loyal soldiers and supporters were Frontline campaigners of Governor Kawira.

The two Kings of Meru were at each other’s throats…sadly these fights cost all of them. Kiraitu lost to Kawira and Azimio lost enough votes in Meru which could have been a game changer eventually the national result. Both Kiraitu and Munya Lost. What a costly fight which was nothing but ego-driven.

Now there’s no Kiraitu…No Munya; who will step up and be the voice of Meru? There’s a vacuum that needs to be filled. This time someone with some sense of selflessness. For the people. Among the current Meru leadership is the steeled resolve, charisma, and suaveness that was displayed by Kiraitu and Munya. It’s certain Kiraitu has retired from active politics and Munya thrown into the pits of political opposition which is a deep hole to climb out of.

On the surface, CS Linturi comes out as the logical and sure replacement. Will he manage to galvanize his position at the national level for his political expediency? He’s a known political fox but strangely laid back. Senator Kathuri is a black box. Hardly betrays any intentions nor is aggressive enough to stand up against the grain when his community’s interests are threatened. Governor Kawira is still finding her footing in dealing with political rivalry.

Maybe it’s time Meru looked beyond, away from the expected, and groomed an emerging light that’s fearless, with some proven track record of consistency in fighting for the people.

Someone whose political journey is well carved out and majorly self-driven.

I believe we have that person, we need to explore deeper if the expectations seem to be faltering…

WHO WILL IT BE???

Alex Kiambi is a political commentator and communications expert

Email
alexkiambi@gmail.com