United Democratic Party (UDP) party leader Cyrus Jirongo has that the Luhya community is willing to elect Raila as president tomorrow if the program is fair. He said that they would be willing to elect Musalia, Kalonzo, or Gideon as president tomorrow because they are all treated equally and fairly.
Jirongo, a former Lugari MP urged the Mount Kenya Foundation leaders not to have a preferred candidate because it would cause chaos.
“Musiwe na wale mnapendelea na sisi tuko tayari kufanya kazi pamoja. Na wale ambao wako nje na wale ambao mmekaa hapa. This team is a demonstration of ability to work together. Sisi tuko hapa team. Ile ingine mlikua nayo ata kubwa zaidi, ilikua mtu mmoja. Team ilikua mtu mmoja,” Jirongo said.
Speaking at the Mount Kenya Foundation leaders meeting at the Safari Park Hotel, Jirongo urged the leaders to be honest with their souls and avoid uniting and selecting a preferred candidate. He claimed that the Luhyas, who voted for Kibaki in greater numbers than the central province, did not act in unison when making their decision.
“We did not have a handshake, we are willing Raila to be our president tomorrow if the program is fair. You must be willing Musalia or Kalonzo or Gideon to be a president tomorrow because all of them are being treated equally and fairly. Musikuje na preferred candidate, Mutaharibu kabisa,” Jirongo said.
“The leaders who are gathered here together particularly from parliament, and friends from the mountain region first of all let me take this opportunity to thank all of you particularly those who organized this day and have given us the opportunity to come and talk to you.
We’ve gone through very many elections in this country and when I was coming here I asked myself what is the difference this time that there is so much concern the leadership and the business community from mount Kenya region that they have decided they should meet those they think might produce the next leader in this country and I thought through it.
It became very clear to me because where I come from we really don’t understand tribalism. We voted for Kibaki you know it. We voted for the late Kenneth Matiba. Ask Raila we have voted for him very many times and generally it has come to a point whereby the rest of the country thinks people called Luos are just a voting machine.
We have decided this time around that we want first of all to work together as a community just the way you are thinking about the Mount Kenya community and that’s why we are three of us here and we will offer not all of us but one of us to be part of the leadership of this country because we know that every number counts at this critical moment.
Wambora, I met him a long time ago when I was a young man. Wambora was personal assistant to the late Hezekiah Oyugi. And the former PC who is seated there will tell you quite a bit about the history of this country, Kaguthi.
That it is started like something small in the village of a family fighting in 2008 it became the entire rift valley and spread up to the Coastal Province, Nyanza, and everywhere else. We are here if I have to be blunt because there are deep-seated fears particularly amongst Kenyans today.
In the rift valley when you have had clashes it has been toene ao kwekwe, Communities that don’t belong or should not belong to the rift valley. This has been changed they have now created another tribe in Kenya called the rich and the poor using exactly the same strategy.
That i must identify an enemy and i must label that enemy and use it for my own benefits. Na mimi ningependa kuuliza nyinyi watu wa Mt. Kenya, hautuwezi kuchukulia yale yanafantika katika taifa letu kwa mzaha. Na hatuwezi kusema tukona muda. Kwa sababu vijana wetu wampakwa uchafu katika vichwa vyao.
Na yale mambo yoote mnazungumzia ya uchumi ya hapa, haina maana kama hatutakua na Kenya kesho. If we don’t have our country tomorrow all we are discussing here is a waste of time. Even if we talk on how we look at our natural resources, invest capital in them to create employment for our youth, it will not happen unless we have a peaceful Kenya.
You all must resist the tribalism that has been used before to create chaos in this country, to be upped to a point where you now have identified another tribe called the ups and created another one they have notes just to perpetuate the same crimes you have perpetuated all through right from the rift valley, now you brought it to the national level.
And this we cannot continue to pretend we’ve got to face it now we’ve got to engage the youth now and we need to talk to them now remove what has been put in their heads, Lazima tuitoe. We are not here because mount Kenya as a tribe wants to know what will be on the table. A majority of you have it on the table, there are areas in this republic where people don’t eat.
So you are here because you are wondering after next year’s election will I sit in my sitting room, will I have my meal and a key, lies with all of us. First of all let us not have a preferred leader, all these people are capable. When Mount Kenya looks like they are a preferred leader, you create a lot of descent in the hearts of my brothers here.
Because Kalonzo has spoken he has been key when you needed him. I have told you as a community sometimes we think we are a voting machine, we voted for everybody. Why we are here is the fear of Kenya burning tomorrow and this we have to work on it. We have no other Kenya, we only have one Kenya, we have no other home, the only home we have is called this Kenya.
Leo ukienda katika mlima Kenya, kabilla iko huku haielwei jambo lingine kwa sababu wameambiwa uyu akonayo atanyang’anywa, watepewa and we have seen such a leadership. In Uganda, there was a dictator who came in and said the foreigners must go away.
And you know every Ugandan clapped at that time. They forced out the Asian community, they forced out all the investors and it did not take long before that country mailed it to zero. So you understand the dangers that we are facing today. We need to educate our people and let me tell you a hungry person to be manipulated is very easy.
The performance of our economy has caused our young people to be manipulated very easily. We do not have a lot of time for prolonged discourse, we have time to go to the ground, educate our young men and women, let them understand we do not have another country and that is only possible if we remove selfishness out of this leadership. Some of them are amongst us.
We must agree we have to go forward as a united front for the sake of this country. Now if you refuse to play your role because it must be you you are just as an enemy as the enemy you are discussing here because you are not offering a solution. You must agree to play whatever role you’ll be given as a leader for the sake of the unity of our country.
Munga will not provide employment tomorrow if we have chaos in this country. Neither will Mwangi carry Kenyans to DRC for them to look at business opportunities if they are chaos in this country tomorrow. You are here because you are scared.
Something wrong is happening. Way forward let us go to the ground, you people must never have a preferred candidate, let all of our work as a team and at the right time, Kenyans will see who is so qualified to take us through this very risky period.
I want to urge all of you and the problem is coming from the mountain, don’t have preferred candidates. I have told you as a community we have demonstrated many times that we can vote for any Kenyan.
What do you expect us to feel like a community if you come fronting somebody else who maybe has just voted for you once not because he wanted to vote for you but circumstances forced him to vote for you and as we voted for you because we believed in you we are treated like this ones are cheap. After all, they are divided they’ll just come and vote for us.
Musiwe na wale mnapendelea na sisi tuko tayari kufanya kazi pamoja. Na wale ambao wako nje na wale ambao mmekaa hapa. This team is a demonstration of ability to work together. Sisi tuko hapa team. Ile ingine mlikua nayo ata kubwa zaidi, ilikua mtu mmoja. Team ilikua mtu mmoja.
So nani anapenda umoja, ni hawa au ni wengine? Kwa hivyo nawaomba muwe wakweli kwa roho zenu. Msichuke kisa kimoja mukifanye kionekane kua ndicho cha maana zaidi. Ati tulishikana mikono, hapana. Sisi tuliwapigia bila kushikana mikono. The Luhyas were majority in voting in Kibaki more than central province.
We did not have a handshake, we are willing Raila to be our president tomorrow if the program is fair. You must be willing Musalia or Kalonzo or Gideon to be a president tomorrow because all of them are being treated equally and fairly. Musikuje na preferred candidate, Mutaharibu kabisa. And that is all I came to tell you.
