Nairobi — Azimio leader Raila Odinga has challenged Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa to prove to Kenyans that their parents were Mau Mau fighters.
Odinga accused the two Kenya Kwanza leaders of deceiving Kenyans, every time they claim that their fathers took part in the first liberation against the British colonialists.
The two leaders have always branded themselves the 'sons of Mau Mau' whenever they are telling off Odinga who is a top critic of the Kenya Kwanza government of President William Ruto whom the Opposition leader has declined to recognize having competed against him in the August 2022 elections in which he maintains he won.
"You (Mr Gachagua) and Kimani Ichung'wah have been bragging all along that you are the sons of MauMau," Odinga said Monday, "I want to challenge you [today] Mr Gachagua, to tell Kenyans your relationship with Nderi Gachagua Wang'ombe. Tell us also, if your father was a MauMau, what was his service number in the MauMau movement?."
Odinga's latest jibe against the two top Kenya Kwanza leaders from Mt Kenya is likely to ignite fresh political friction, particularly after the bipartisan talks initiated by the president stalled.
On Monday, Odinga accused the two leaders and the entire Kenya Kwanza government of making the politics in Mt Kenya unhealthy alluding to the crackdown on people accused to be Mungiki adherents, led by its former leader Maina Njenga who was charged last week.
"Whereas the Constitution under Article 37 gives the people of Kenya the right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate, picket, and present petitions to public authorities, the actions of this regime indicate a determination to deny the same to the people of Mt. Kenya," Azimio said in a statement read out by Martha Karua, Odinga's running mate in last year's election.
They said Njenga's treatment laid bare the determination of the regime to weaponize state agencies to harass and intimidate Mt. Kenya leaders.
"We are seeing the profiling of Mt. Kenya youth as Mungiki which amounts to an attempt by the regime to create an artificial crisis to justify violence against innocent young Kenyans," they said, and declared that their "position that profiling the Mt. Kenya Youth will not solve this regime's problems, it will only derail the healing Process."
They also accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of unfairly targetting former President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee party which is embroiled in leadership wrangles they claim are orchestrated by the government.
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"We wish to remind the people of Mt. Kenya that the attempt to target, isolate and finish the established leaders and political parties of the region have happened before, with grim consequences," Azimio said.
They recalled 1978 when Kikuyu leaders, their businesses and those in public sector were allegedly targeted soon after Kenya's founding president Jomo Kenyatta died.
The community, they claimed, witnessed a massive effort to cut down and humiliate its leaders like James Gichuru, Njoroge Mungai, Mbiyu Koinange, Waruru Kanja, Bernard Hinga and Mwai Kibaki immediately after Jomo Kenyatta left the stage.
"Mwai Kibaki, who was later to become the most transformational leader the nation has known, was seriously undermined and humiliated," they said, adding that "The invasion of Jubilee Party is an attempt to cripple Mt. Kenya Leadership and create a crisis of governance of political parties in the region."
On the controversial Finance Bill, the Azimio leadership claims most tax measures in it are also targeting the mountain.
"Many of the tax measures contained in the finance bill currently before parliament are unreasonable and clearly directed at Mt Kenya businesses," they said and warned hustlers that "The proposed turnover tax is basically a tax on assets whose primary objective is to impoverish the mama mbogas, boda boda and other vulnerable Kenyans struggling to make a living in these difficult economic circumstances. The majority of these small businesses are owned by men and women from Mt Kenya region."
