Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi has announced he will back ODM leader Raila Odinga in his fifth stab at the Presidency, boosting the former Prime Minister’s chances of wresting the crucial Mt Kenya vote from Deputy President William Ruto’s grip.
During what secretary-general Imanyara Mugambi referred to as an emergency National Delegates Conference (NDC) for Mr Murungi’s Devolution Empowerment Party (DEP) on Tuesday, more than 500 delegates said they would support Azimio la Umoja, whose presumptive presidential candidate is Mr Odinga.
The delegates came from Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Isiolo counties.
Mr Murungi has been dithering on who to support between Mr Odinga and Dr Ruto and made his announcement two days after Senator Mithika Linturi declared his entry into the race for the governor’s seat on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket.Kiraitu Murungi’s party officially joins Azimio la Umoja
The governor’s endorsement is expected to shore up Mr Odinga’s chances of getting a huge chunk of the votes in the region, backed by a veteran politician referred to as the “guru” of party politics in the country.
Since his entry into Parliament in 1992 as Imenti South MP on a Ford Kenya ticket, Mr Murungi has gone into each of his six elections on a different party – and won all of them.
He engineered the merger of 12 parties, including his Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), in 2016 to form the Jubilee Party ahead of the 2017 General Election.
When the governor last year declared that the Jubilee Party was dead and buried and formed DEP, he adopted the APK symbol – a bus – saying he regretted folding it.
780,000 registered voters
Mr Murungi’s announcement came after keeping Mr Odinga and Dr Ruto waiting for several months. During his recent visit to the county, the DP asked Mr Murungi to join the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
On Tuesday, the governor said he had made up his mind on where he wants the 780,000 registered voters in Meru to cast their ballot.
“I have looked around among all the presidential candidates and come to a conclusion that the only person who can steer this country into prosperity is Mr Odinga. He is committed to democracy and devolution and I believe he will be the fifth President of Kenya,” Mr Murungi told the delegates at St Michael Church in Meru.
“I do not deal with emotions and we have done a survey and talked to residents and decided to join Azimio La Umoja. We don’t want our people to be in the opposition and we will do anything within our powers to ensure that Mr Odinga gets most of the votes in the region,” Mr Murungi added.
Addressing the delegates, Mr Odinga said once elected President, he would ensure the people of the Mt Kenya region benefit immensely from his government by setting up value addition facilities for agricultural products.
“We will also complete some of the projects that have not been completed across the region,” Mr Odinga said.
However, in a quick rejoinder, Mr Linturi said it will not be easy for Mr Murungi to convince Meru voters to vote for Mr Odinga, arguing that they had already decided their presidential candidate was Dr Ruto.
“The DP has been in Meru more than 50 times over the last four years and he has endeared himself to the electorate. Somebody should not think they can undo that in just a few months to the election. Also, note that 11 of the serving MPs in Meru are on the DP’s side,” Mr Linturi said in a phone interview.
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