{"id":915785,"date":"2022-01-12T21:55:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T21:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/news\/2022\/01\/12\/battle-to-control-ukambani-votes-splits-kalonzo-allies-governors\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T21:55:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T21:55:51","slug":"battle-to-control-ukambani-votes-splits-kalonzo-allies-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/01\/12\/battle-to-control-ukambani-votes-splits-kalonzo-allies-governors\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle to control Ukambani votes splits Kalonzo allies, governors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"art-img row mx-md-0\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/tyfgtgn78ab761df15a052106.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid w-100\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/strong><figcaption class=\"bg-light mb-3 p-3 row mx-md-0\">\n<p><strong>A section of Wiper MPs led by Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo junior (second left), Kitui Senator Enock Wambua and Women rep Irene Kasalu (left) addresses a press conference at the party headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday, January 12, 2022<\/strong> [David Njaaga, Standard]\n<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"card-text\">The battle for the soul of Ukambani took a dramatic twist yesterday when Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka&#8217;s allies declared that he will not step down for any presidential candidate. <\/p>\n<p>Two governors, however, vowed to steer the community in a different direction.\n<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the press at the party\u2019s headquarters in Karen, Nairobi, yesterday, Wiper politicians led by Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said Kalonzo is still in the race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.<\/p>\n<p>He dismissed reports that Kalonzo had agreed to support the candidature of ODM leader Raila Odinga and would join Azimio la Umoja Movement campaigns in Thika on Saturday before heading to Kitui.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have also seen the rumour and those two issues are not even part of the reason we have called for the meeting,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"jIdAD7dCY3w\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ubabe wa kisiasa waendelea kunoga Ukambani huku magavana watatu wakipuzila uongozi wa Kalonzo\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jIdAD7dCY3w?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Kalonzo will host a political meeting at his Yatta farm in Machakos on Saturday in what is seen as an attempt to stamp his political authority in the region.\n<\/p>\n<p>Kilonzo Jnr said the meeting will discuss the political direction Ukambani will take in the upcoming polls.\n<\/p>\n<p>But speaking in Machakos, Governors Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) vowed to show the Kamba community the political direction they should take in the race to succeed Uhuru. They urged residents to reject leaders out to use them for their selfish interests.\n<\/p>\n<p>The governors accused the Wiper leader of bringing the region to a standstill for personal gratification.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeaders with no development track record have no business representing our community on any negotiation table. Leadership must be development-based and Ukambani region is ready for that change,\u201d said Dr Mutua <\/p>\n<p>He said they will invite all Ukambani leaders to ensure unity of purpose.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Lower Eastern region does not belong to any leader. Ukambani belongs to the people and the leaders are the servants of the people. Let us not forget that. Unity of all Ukambani leaders must be development based. That is why all elected leaders must be part and parcel of all negotiations for the community,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Mutua criticised Kalonzo for calling a leaders\u2019 meeting at his Yatta farm.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a proper meeting of leaders of Ukambani, to plan and strategise on the way forward,\u201d Mutua said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Prof Kibwana claimed Kalonzo has been leading the region in the wrong direction since 2004 when he was given the Ukambani leadership mantle by the late Mulu Mutisya.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we ask ourselves what major development has been done in the Lower Eastern since independence, what can we show, the only light we saw was brought about by Mulu Mutisya\u2019s native wisdom. If we don\u2019t change our card for another 10 years we will not benefit,\u201d the Makueni governor said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.standardmedia.co.ke\/politics\/article\/2001434242\/battle-to-control-ukambani-votes-splits-kalonzo-allies-governors\">Source: The Standard Media Kenya<\/a> <a \"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A section of Wiper MPs led by Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo junior (second left), Kitui Senator Enock Wambua and Women rep Irene Kasalu (left) addresses a press conference at the party headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 [David Njaaga, Standard] The battle for the soul of Ukambani took a dramatic twist yesterday when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}