With only Five months before Kenyans go to the ballot, Gikuyu Council of elders in Nyeri have left residents with uncertainies over Uhuru Kenyatta reelection in the forthcoming August General election. This is a after a fig-tree (Mugumo) fell in kiamigwi village Nyeri County.
Gikuyu traditions hold a belief that a fall Mugumo tree signifies a looming occurrence in the community.
In 1963 a mugumo tree fell in kiambu which according the elders it signified a looming collapse of colonial government in Kenya.
In 1978 a mugumo tree fell before the sudden death of his Excellency the first president of the Republic of Kenya Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
In 2002 another mugumo tree fell in Nyeri before 2002 elections in what was perceived to be an end of a regime.
In 2013 another mugumo tree fell again in Nyeri giakanja which the elders interpreted as “ituíka ria wathani” or change of guard.Which came to be where a new younger generation took over leadership across the country.
Earlier 2016 two mugumo trees fell in Nyeri driving chills among the Kikuyu council of elders.This very happening didn’t go well with tribesmen who knows what it means.
As the tradition pundits say, a very clear message is being communicated to the Kikuyu nation. They must see it as it is.
A fall of yet another Mugumo tree on March 16th five months to the general election has been interpreted by elders to be symbolic to loss of power by the current president, uhuru Kenyatta.
According to one of the elders who came to witness the recent fall, President Kenyatta has lost the trust that the people of Nyeri had in him. Replicating the people’s ‘murmurs’ the elder accused the president of not protecting his people’s interest in the government and instead choose to listen to what he termed as ‘outsiders’, “Uhuru has been relying on his aides too much, he is no longer incharged of the government” said the elder.
This over reliance by the president on his aides has seen him make wrong decisions only to later realize that he had been blundered by his trusted men .
On several occasions president Kenyatta has acted on lies in the making of critical decisions that have later turned to haunt him, this include the 175 list of shame presented before Parliament later prosecuted on allegations of corruption.
The president on this occasion sacrificed his best cabinet secretaries only for reports to emerge they had been set up by his aides working closely with his very own deputy to ensure that powerful cabinet secretaries lost their jobs for posing as threats to his 2022 presidential bid and failing to play to his business interests.
Among Uhuru allies fired irregularly is Charity Ngilu who was fired after she allegedly failed to protect Ruto from Langa’ta primary school land grabbing saga.
The same predicament befell the ‘Super CS’ Anne Waiguru for what has turned out to be as a result of failure to protect the DP’s allies when they looted the NYS and whistle blowing on them.
The worst case scenario was the including of the hard working transport and infrastructure CS, Eng. Micheal Kamau on the list of shame based on an over lived 1990’s case.
Close sources say he was fired after allegedly refusing to award tenders to companies owned by the allies of the deputy president. Eng. Kamau was also considered as a possible threat to DP’s 2022 ambitions due to his closeness to the president that saw him represent the head of state in high profile delegations where the president would have otherwise be represented by his deputy or the foreign affairs Cabinet.
According to an elder who sort anonymity, the perceived betrayal and neglect by the president to his people and especially the Gikuyu is what will make him lose the polls. In the Mount Kenya region, already voter apathy in Nyeri and Murang’a counties where President Kenyatta was overwhelmingly voted in 2013 is looming.
It is not clear who president Kenyatta will lose power to, but the people of Nyeri seem convinced that Kenyatta will not be their president after the Ituika.
Opinion by Anonymous source. Edited by Discover Kenya
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