By Eric Wainaina
KENYA: Senators allied to The National Alliance (TNA) met on Friday to resolve the tussle on who becomes Senate Majority Leader.
The over six-hour meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi was attended by Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu) and Kindiki Kithure (Tharaka) who have expressed interest in the seat.
Wamatangi on Saturday confirmed attending the meeting, saying they were discussing how to share top seats, including committee chairs.
He said the meeting discussed the proposal that Central be given Leader of the Majority since Mt Kenya East had taken the Speaker of the National Assembly in Justin Muturi. “You can ask any of the Senators who were there, including Kithure himself, who after the deliberation said if he would be convinced by the senior Senators, he would drop his bid for me,” he said.
He said it was proposed in the meeting that Kithure takes up the chairmanship of the Committee on Justice due to his legal background. Efforts to get a comment from Kithure were futile, as he did not pick our calls or reply to out text. Nyandarua Senator Muriuki Karue said more than 10 Senators were present but their discussions were not final.
“We are talking about Mt Kenya East and West because what we want is to ensure regional balance not only in Mount Kenya region but in entire nation,” Karue said. Wamatangi also refuted claims published in a section of the media that he had settled for the position of chair of a powerful committee and maintained he is still in the race.
Reserved seat
The Leader of Majority seat in the Senate has been reserved for Jubilee coalition affiliates while that of National Assembly will go to the United Republican Party. “We have only three major seats for TNA and one went to Mt Kenya East and the second one was given to Katoo ole Metito to represent the Maa community. We agreed that the other seat should come to central Kenya,” Wamatangi said on Saturday.
Initially, the Senate Majority Leader seat had been reserved for Charity Ngilu of Narc but she lost the Kitui Senate seat. Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe of Narc too is interested in the seat while Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi dropped his bid in support of Kithure. They made proposals that Yusuf Haji (Garissa) to take chairmanship of Internal Security Committee, Naisula Lesuda for Information and Communication and Karue the Devolution team.
