The Mt Kenya Times 
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- When I heard that a young person of 40 years has won presidential election in Senegal, I asked. Can Kenyans borrow a leaf from this? President William Ruto, who is currently at the helm of power, is a young person.
- As envisaged in the constitution, he is due to retire in 2032 after completing his two-five year terms in office. Do we have a young person who will fit in his shoe?
- The name of Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro would immediately come into my mind.
- Come 2032, Ndindi will be clocking the same age as that of Senegalese President, Faye Diomaye.
A few days ago, the People of Senegal turned up in large numbers at their respective polling stations to elect the new head of state.
They overwhelmingly elected a 40-year man called Bassirou Diomaye Faye to take over from outgoing President.
Faye was formerly working for the government of Senegal as a top tax collector.
He later fell out fell with the President after he questioned the new taxes that had been introduced terming them as punitive.
He later quit the government in a huff and become a marked man. He however stood his ground.
As a fierce critic of the system, Senegalese President would at some point feel threatened by Faye’s bare knuckled attacks. This would lead to his arrest. He was charged and jailed.
The Senegal people would not take this decision lightly because he was their hero and their savior.
They started agitating for his immediate release. The government would cave in to pressure in the eve of the elections.
After being released, he only campaigned for 10 days before the official campaign period ended.
When I heard that a young person of 40 years has won presidential election in Senegal, I asked. Can Kenyans borrow a leaf from this? President William Ruto, who is currently at the helm of power, is a young person.
As envisaged in the constitution, he is due to retire in 2032 after completing his two-five year terms in office. Do we have a young person who will fit in his shoe?
The name of Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro would immediately come into my mind.
Come 2032, Ndindi will be clocking the same age as that of Senegalese President, Faye Diomaye.
Apart from being young, Ndindi Nyoro is a development conscious and a person who believes in a building a peaceful and united country. He is also well educated and he has never been implicated in corruption.
Given his virtues, he has become darling of elected leaders from all parts of Kenya.
We have lately been seeing them inviting him to commission and launch various development projects in their respective constituencies.
The public and private universities have also been inviting him to officiate public lectures.
He was a few days ago hosted by Mount Kenya University.
He had earlier officiated a similar event at Tom Mboya University in Homa Bay. In two campuses, he made a well researched and a powerful presentation.
As of now, Deputy President (DP) Rigathi Gachagua is perceived to be his main competitor. Why I would expect the DP to change his tack and take this as a healthy competition?
He is on record hitting out at outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta.
This is because he had failed to groom and nurture a person from this region.
So we were caught off-guard during the 2022 polls.
I want to assure you that we will not repeat this glaring mistake.
He promised to immediately start grooming and nurturing young leaders from the Mountain.
I remember him holding the hand of Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro in one of the subsequent meetings.
Ndindi has all it takes to steer the Mountain to the great height of success and shared prosperity.
As such, he is one of the leaders I have in mind.
I would not expect Gachagua to claim credit in as far as Ndindi Nyoro candidature is concerned
The MP had already cut his own political path.
As Ndindi traverses other parts of the country, his work in Kiharu was on course.
The other day I was in Muranga town and I got an opportunity to speak with chairman of Kiharu NG-CDF through the phone.
He told me that besides matters of education, health the MP is giving priority to the development of mega infrastructural projects.
For instance, a number of roads were currently being constructed.
Right now I’m on the ground in the remote area of this constituency inspecting these projects.
The MP had also kicked out the process of establishing and launching digital hubs in the villages. These efforts are designed to create jobs for the youth.
For DP Gachagua, It was apparent that he had come to the conclusion that Ndindi Nyoro’s working development tours across the country posed a real threat to his political game-plan.
He not only threatened to derail and thwart his plans to become the kingpin of Mountain.
If this happen, he was likely to be dropped as President Ruto’s running mate in 2027 and this dim his dream to succeed him in 2032.
Majority of Kikuyus aver that the MP was being embraced by leaders from all corners of the country because he believed in building a united and peaceful Kenya.
This is unlike DP Gachagua who was divisive and hence being shunned by these leaders.
To me, DP’s latest political strategy of portraying the young leaders from Mount Kenya as being out to further the course of outsiders was bound to fail.
As a writer and a political analyst, I want to ask him this question. In the countdown and aftermath of 1992 and 1997 general elections, he should tell us the role he played?
As a key player in the government of retired President Daniel Arap Moi, he never played the role of uniting the Kikuyus.
He instead helped President Moi to divide our community and at no time did he ever faulted Moi for abandoning the Mount Kenya region.
The local leaders in areas that the MP has so far visited would aver.
Ndindi Nyoro is a presidential material.
He is poised to take the mantle of Mount Kenya kingpin and stands a high chance of succeeding President William Ruto in 2032.
In my earlier article, I argued.
The Kiharu MP who also doubles as the chairman of the National Assembly’s Budget Appropriation Committee Ndindi Nyoro is yet to openly declare his bid for the kingpin of the Mount Kenya region.
But as things turns out, his opponents had started panicking. Ndindi was indeed sending cold shivers down their spines. To tame him, we have seen them escalating this war to State House.
This brings me to the question. Did President William Ruto have a hand in Ndindi’s bid? The answer is a big No. There was no evidence to support these claims.
During his recent three-day of the Kikuyu land, President Ruto once proved wrong his critics.
He steered clear of local politics and concentrated on development matters.
In so doing, he once again demonstrated his commitment to walk the walk. This is by focusing on fulfilling the promises he had made during the campaigns.
Ndindi Nyoro’s campaign had earlier taken a new turn when he hosted more than 20 Kenya Kwanza members of parliament drawn from different parts of the country in his Kiharu constituency.
DP Gachagua later visited Muranga County. He was accompanied by 117 members of parliament (MPs) during a fundraiser in Kigumo. I heard people particularly Kikuyus claiming that he had ‘hired’ these MPs.
Back to Kiharu, the MPs attended the education event on their own volition. Speaker after speaker showered him with accolades. Ndindi’s track record on matters of development, peace and unity speaks for itself.
We want to assure you the people of Muranga that Ndindi was poised to succeed President Ruto in 2032 when he completes his second term in office. You can take this to the bank.
For President Ruto, this is not the first time that his name would be dragged into premature 2032 succession politics.
Sometimes back Kakamega senator Bonny Khalwale had made similar claims. This happened during Dr Ruto’s visit to the region.
He alleged that President Ruto had held a closed door meeting with the leaders of Mulembe nation at Kakamega State Lodge. We managed to convince him to support the candidature of ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi in 2032.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is not suitable for the position of the President. We want to tell him to forget it. President Ruto will pass the baton to Mudavadi, Khalwale added.
But in a swift rejoinder, Dr Ruto dismissed and denounced his remarks. It is premature and too early to talk about 2032 succession. We are here to launch and commission development projects. This is in line with promises we made during the campaigns.
I’m not holding brief for the President but I’m persuaded to believe that his position is the same. This is regard to Ndindi’s political game plan for the Mount Kenya region.
Though Gachagua is arguably the senior-most leader, the recent developments have shown that his popularity was dwindling.
Well, DP Gachagua curves a niche of being a truthful and a God-fearing man. So, with due respect, I want to let him know this.
Majority of Kikuyu do not believe in him. To drive the point home, they would revisit his previous utterances and history.
You heard him likening Kenya to shareholding company. This was a reckless statement. They would also fault him for picking a war with Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja. His statement was divisive, callous and designed to put the Kikuyus into a collision course with rest of the Kenyan communities.
Nairobi is the home to all the 45 communities of Kenya.
Others would allege that Gachagua was only considering his home county of Nyeri for state appointments.
Some would recall the alleged ‘ills’ associated with him when he served as a ‘special’ District Officer (DO) during the era of President Daniel Arap Moi.
It is also worth noting that Gachagua was not the preferred choice of the majority of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) leaders from the Mountain for the position of the running mate. The final decision however lied with presidential candidate William Ruto. He settled on him.
Ndindi’s track record of development in Kiharu is there for all to see.
The MPs and other elected leaders are travelling there for bench-marking.
The other day a renowned opinion poll firm rated him as the best performer in the country. This is on matters of development.
Matters of education are close to his heart.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga Is A Writer And Political Analyst Based In Nairobi
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