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A photo collage of Wangui Ngirici and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku\/COURTESY<\/p>\nA photo collage of Wangui Ngirici and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku\/COURTESY<\/p>\n
Former Kirinyaga Woman Representative Wangui Ngirici and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku have exchanged political barbs over the debate surrounding the unity of the Mt Kenya region.<\/p>\n
Ngirici criticised Ruku over what she described as his silence on claims of divisions within the region, sarcastically suggesting that the CS had gone quiet despite his earlier comments on the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone please check on CS Ruku. His silence on splitting the mountain is getting unusually loud,\u201d Ngirici said.<\/p>\n
She also used geological imagery to mock Ruku following his remarks on the debate over a political split between Mt Kenya West and East.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were promised geological activity, but the man has gone completely seismically silent,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Ngirici maintained that the region remained united, dismissing suggestions of a political split within Mt Kenya.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mountain is united,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ruku, however, appeared to respond with a brief but pointed message, suggesting that the political process was already yielding results.<\/p>\n
\u201cImepasuka!\u201d Ruku said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cSasa ni beacons tunapigilia one by one!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ngirici\u2019s remarks come amid renewed calls by some leaders from Mt Kenya East for greater political recognition and bargaining power for Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi.<\/p>\n
Ruku has publicly advocated for Mt Kenya East to pursue a separate political identity from Mt Kenya West, a position that has drawn opposition from leaders who support the region’s political unity.<\/p>\n
He has argued that the eastern bloc has not received what he considers its fair share of influence within the broader Mt Kenya political establishment.<\/p>\n
Ruku said the push was not intended to create divisions among the Kikuyu, Meru and Embu communities but to address what he described as historical political imbalances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not splitting the mountain. I\u2019m just saying the truth,\u201d while insisting that unfair treatment of Mt Kenya East must end,\u201d he said at a past event.<\/p>\n
Ruku said that although the Mt Kenya region has remained united throughout Kenya\u2019s political history, counties in the eastern bloc, Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi, had for decades supported leaders from the western side of the region without complaint.<\/p>\n
According to the CS, leaders and residents of Mt Kenya East have consistently backed their counterparts from Mt Kenya West for more than six decades and are now seeking similar support.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have supported the West over the years, again and again, for more than 60 years, and we have never complained. This unfair treatment has to come to an end,\u201d Ruku said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fought for the independence of our nation together as a mountain. We have been in government together through the administrations of Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta and even William Ruto. We formed these governments together as a people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has, however, opposed the proposal, saying Mt Kenya remains one and should not be split along political lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A photo collage of Wangui Ngirici and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku\/COURTESY Former Kirinyaga Woman Representative Wangui…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[31],"tags":[906,5811,80,351,6058,180941,47676,352,98,100,36736,353,101,350,99],"class_list":["post-378553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kenya","tag-906","tag-gachagua","tag-kenya","tag-kenya-news","tag-mt-kenya","tag-ngirici","tag-ruku","tag-star","tag-star-news","tag-star-news-kenya","tag-star-newspaper","tag-star-newspaper-kenya","tag-the-star","tag-the-star-kenya","tag-the-star-newspaper"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/117096064707669865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}