NO PACT BETWEEN RIFT VALLEY KIKUYUS AND RIFT VALLEY COUSINS IN FUTURE ELECTIONS

Uhuru rules out poll pact with Rift Valley
By SIMON SIELE
September 7 2008 at 18:43
Sunday Nation

Kikuyu MPs from Rift Valley warned they will not unquestioningly side with Central Kenya counterparts in future.
VP Musyoka condemned post-election flare-up in Rift Valley and urged residents to stay on despite the losses.
Rift Valley must reject ethnic preferences when voting for a leader, nominated MP Musa Sirma said

There will be no political alliance between people from central Kenya and those of Rift Valley in the next General Election, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said at the weekend.

Mr Kenyatta was speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony for Molo MP Joseph Kiuna.

Best placed

His allies and those of Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka turned the occasion into a platform to canvass for their respective leaders as the best placed to lead the PNU in 2012.

The ceremony degenerated into a fierce political showdown with Kikuyu MPs from the Rift Valley warning that they will not unquestioningly side with their Central Kenya counterparts in future.

The showdown was sparked by nominated MP Musa Sirma who proposed that people from the Rift Valley must reject ethnic preferences when voting for a leader.

It was the only way, argued Mr Sirma, that the two communities could avoid ethnic clashes every election year.

“I am looking at a future that will allow voters in Rift Valley to rally behind a candidate without questioning his ethnic identity,” said the MP.

Mr Kenyatta dismissed the proposal, accusing Kalenjin MPs of insincerity. “Such an arrangement can not work because while some of us are sincere, our brothers are not. We have seen this before.”

He said the bad blood in the region following the disputed Presidential election results was enough proof.

Speaking at the ceremony, VP Musyoka condemned the post-election flare-up in Rift Valley and urged residents to stay on despite the losses.

“The law is very clear that everyone has a right to own property in any part of the country and no one should threaten you to leave,” he said.

Molo MP Joseph Kiuna and his counterparts made it clear to their Central Province colleagues that the 1.5 million Kikuyu vote in Rift Valley would not be “misused as has been the case since the 1992 General Election where we have been punished every five years to or after polls.”

Wise decision

“Our voters have learnt not to follow their Central Province counterparts blindly and, come 2012, we shall make a wise decision by unanimously deciding who to back so that no more displacements occur in politically instigated violence,” Mr Kiuna said.

He regretted that his constituency was the first casualty of post-election chaos because of the assumption PNU had rigged the Presidential vote.

He was supported by Roads assistant minister Lee Kinyanjui, MPs John Mututho (Naivasha), Subukia’s Nelson Gaichuhie (Subukia), Musa Sirma (nominated) and Subukia parliamentary loser Kimani Ngunjiri in rejecting an alliance with the Central Province.