Kituyi, Jirongo keep many guessing – Weekly Citizen

Former cabinet minister Mukhisa Kituyi’s impending retirement from his high profile posting at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva has left tongues wagging in the wake of speculation that the vocal politician-turned technocrat is aiming at the presidency come 2022.
The influential United Nations Conference on Trade and Development secretary general is believed to be angling for a key role in the Uhuru Kenyatta succession, with his Western region backyard primed for a major stake at the national level.

Kituyi

To complicate the equation even further, Cyrus Jirongo is also rumoured to be eyeing the Kakamega governorship slot, throwing the strategic region into more confusion. Jirongo has for some time now taken a low profile largely attributed to his dwindling financial fortunes.
A shrewd business operative in his own right, the former Lugari MP is understood to be assembling his arsenal to make a discernible impact in the Kenyatta II Succession matrix, with his Western backyard lurking in the background as fodder for an unprecedented scramble for the populous Luhya vote backyard.
Already, William Ruto looks certain to give Amani National Congress leader Mudsalia Mudavadi a run for his money in the mad rush for the Luhya vote, what with his much publicised forays in the region.

Jirongo

Ruto is on record to have frequented the region on countless times, planting his footsoldiers led by former Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale and MPs Benjamin Washali (Mumias East), Dan Wanyama (Webuye West), Benard Shinali (Ikolomani), John Waluke (Sirisia), Didmus Barasa (Kimilili) and Moses Mabonga of Bumula to do his bidding. Bundalangi MP Rapheal Wanjala decision to join Ruto camp has seen former mp Ababu Namwamba reach to Raila Odinga. Another Ruto man in Busia is Governor Sospeter Ojamoong.
Khalalwe recently decamped to Ruto’s Tangatanga outfit of Jubilee, having flirted with the DP for months. His defection has however elicited a barrage of emotion, with the ruling party’s secretary general Raphael Tuju and Jubilee’s Kakamega county branch appearing to disown him altogether.
The self-declared bull fighter’s dare devil antics seem to have occasioned a major rift in the Ruto camp, with former Sports cabinet secretary Rashid Echesa bolting out to join Mudavadi. Critics view Khalwale with disdain, punctuating the former lawmaker with the distabiliser tag within and without Jubilee.
The former Ikolomani MP is accused of making futile attempts to get ANC and the Moses Wetang’ula-led Ford Kenya dissolved at Ruto’s whims. It was reasoned that by dissolving ANC and Ford Kenya, Khalwale hoped to auction the Luhya community to the highest bidder – DP Ruto to be more precise.
With Mudavadi, Wetang’ula and Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya lining up to claim the top seat in readiness for 2022, opinion is so divided that some key players’ presidential ambitions are being viewed with suspicion among the rank and file.
Some of the leading politicians behind the clamour for a new regional dispensation, especially in the post-2022succession polls include lawmakers Godfrey Osotsi (Nominated MP, ANC), George Khaniri (Senator, Vihiga), Cleophas Malala (Senator, Kakamega), Caleb Amisi (MP, Saboti), Tindi Mwale (MP, Butere) and ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna among others – an embodiment of the future of Luhya politics full of verve and vigour.
With his perceived political nemesis, disgraced former Ford Kenya leader Musikari Kombo out of the picture, and cabinet secretary Eugene Wamalwa somewhat anonymous, Kituyi stands the real chance of consolidating the Bukusu nation towards a favourable political direction.
Elsewhere, Jirongo’s political-cum-financial troubles have for long been a major source of concern for his supporters and admirers alike.