Kiunjuri slams 'pro-Gachagua' clergy in Mt Kenya

The Service Party leader Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri is now accusing a cross section of Mt Kenya clergy of donating their pulpits to Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Mr Rigathi Gachagua to use them as political venues of throwing barbs at president William Ruto.

He also said holy sermons are being postponed in some churches that Mr Gachagua attends to create time to insult other leaders.
Speaking on Inooro TV, Mr Kiunjuri accused Mr Gachagua of political doublespeak, hypocrisy and master of propaganda.

"He keeps on crying wolf and projecting himself as a miraculous politician with all the solutions of the challenges that bedevil us since Kenya was founded," he said.

Mr Kiunjuri further said he will be seeking to take over the mantle of offering direction to Mt Kenya region ahead of 2027 on grounds that he is elected and is the only political veteran elected under abnormal circumstances.

"I was first elected in 1997...I'm now serving my fourth term. I was briefly out of parliament between 2013 and 2022... I've been Cabinet Secretary for four(4) years, two(2) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and two(2) in the in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning," he said adding that Gachagua is a political novice. 

He added that he has has served as the Chairperson of Kenya Athi Water Services Board in 2015; as an Assistant Minister for ten years (2002-2013) in the President Mwai Kibaki government in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation for three years, Ministry of Energy for five years and the Ministry of Public Works for two(2) years.

Mr Kiunjuri said "that vast experience makes me the only active politician in Mt Kenya region who is elected and qualified to compliment Mr Uhuru Kenyatta as the reigning kingpin of the region".

He said the best direction for Mt Kenya is to support President Ruto's second term in 2027 and lobby for the 2032 succession to favour the region.

"People do not also know that I nearly became President William Ruto's running mate in 2022 after he proposed to me...But I turned down the offer since I refused to wound TSP for United Democratic Alliance (UDA)," he said.

Mr Kiunjuri said Mr Gachagua was present when the proposal to have him as the 2022 running mate under UDA was made.

"But I refused to wound TSP because I had foreseen the same trouble that Mr Gachagua is currently hyping...going into an alliance and an election without an own political party...But in his greed, he predated on the running mate slot without a party, a folly that has brought him down to where he is now today," he said.

Mr Kiunjuri said "Mr Gachagua in trying to confuse Mt Kenya people to help him regain relevance after he was impeached in October last year after serving for two(2) years as Deputy President is hopping from church to the other uttering words that are obscene, demeaning and unbefitting to a leader against President Ruto loyalists".

Mr Kiunjuri lamented that "in a span of about five months Mr Gachagua has used the pulpits to demonise the president, defame some elected leaders and beat war drums".

He said that the churches Gachagua is frequenting should stop surrendering themselves to be misused for political settling of scores, urging them to stick to the religious agenda.

"Mr Gachagua is walking around presenting himself as the most intelligent man, with the right math to take Mt Kenya forward. Yet, he confesses that he misled Mt Kenya to blindly enter into an alliance and into an election ," he said.

He said that Mr Gachagua is using Mt Kenya voters to cleanse him. 

"He is apologising all over yet he is yet to tell us who stole Uhuru Kenyatta's goats. Mt Kenya churches' clergy and brethren are clapping as Gachagua insults, incites and threatens national peace right from the pulpit," he added.

Mr Kiunjuri chided Mr Gachagua that "a man who could not save himself from impeachment today believes that everyone not following him is stupid. All of a sudden Gachagua has become very intelligent".

Mr Kiunjuri confessed that Mt Kenya leaders have been getting recruitment letters to dish out to their people seeking to join public service.

"It's true that we have been getting recruitment letters into Teachers Service Commission, National Police Service...Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) name it..." he said.

He challenged Mr Gachagua to be honest enough and confess to Kenyans whether he did not get nearly 700 of such letters when he served as Deputy President.

Mr Kiunjuri warned Mt Kenya voters that "all these politics you see around are about 2027 where your best bet is to remain in government".

He said Mr Gachagua is working overdrive to get Mt Kenya out of government.

"Mr Gachagua is like an alcoholic who is already drunk and has fallen in a ditch...but as he lies helplessly in that ditch, he is declaring war on sober people who are sympathising with him," he said.

He urged Mr Gachagua to know that "the war drums he is beating will most affect the Agikuyu community who reside in every corner of the country as well as having both movable and immovable investments that will crumble down if instability broke out".

Mr Kiunjuri added that "if Mr Gachagua pushes us to the corner, we will bare him for the blood he has shed around... Nyeri leadership has in the past bled because of him".

Mr Kiunjuri added that Mr Gachagua is making 2027 to be very costly since he is demanding that he either be bought to stop stirring Mt Kenya political waters or he incites voters to be demanding money from aspirants.

"It is an election that will have a lot of casualties. This coming election will be about money, in its billions," he said.

This came as Mr Gachagua continued to storm parts of Mt Kenya and Coast region popularising his DCP and his anti-Ruto alliance agenda, urging voters to decamp from the UDA and declare president Ruto a one term ruler.

He further urged the voters to declare ballot war against all President Ruto loyalists in Mt Kenya region, branding them as traitors.