Inside Moses Kuria’s plan to become Mt Kenya kingpin

In his military strategy guidebook The Art of War, Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu states: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

This, it appears, is the guiding principle of Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria whose political maneuvers and recent exertions have left the country in utter bewilderment.

Kuria seems to have undergone a metamorphosis - a moment of self-redefinition - ascribed by his aspiration for a higher political office, as was evident at a panel discussion on Citizen TV Tuesday night.

The once controversial MP is markedly restrained in his speech that in the past harbored within its fringes spots of spite and ethnic schism. The present-day Moses Kuria has a somber approach to people-focused discourse with particular specificity to matters affecting the people of Mt Kenya region.

The 48-year-old two-time MP has broadened his take on issues beyond the peripheries of Gatundu South, to the broader Mt Kenya region. From conversations about the moribund coffee sector to matters trade and business and pending bills owed to tenderpreneurs by national and county governments, Kuria has chosen to side with the people.

His strategy is to gain favor in the eyes of the people of Mt Kenya who are, it may seem, the biggest casualties of the existentially dysfunctional economic system. This move compliments his dash for the presidency that has seen him traverse the country to popularise his candidature; because, what is a presidential candidate without an assured, solid support-base in his or her backyard?

Indisputably, Kuria’s ultimate goal is to position himself as the bona fide Mt Kenya kingpin, upon the exit of President Uhuru Kenyatta from active politics in the run-up to the 2022 elections, as he sets his sight on a position as the running mate of one of the presidential front runners, with the Mt Kenya voting bloc behind him.

In his doings, though, Moses Kuris is moving stealthily, choosing his words and actions meticulously not to appear to undermine the president while at the same time making known his stand with the people.

For all intent and purposes, Kuria is playing a long game, he has seen a void in the leadership of Mt Kenya region which he seeks to fill --- and he is adamant that nothing and no one will slow down his march. That is why, when asked on Tuesday night whether he would drop his presidential bid in compliance with the president’s call for an end to early campaigns, his answer was an emphatic NO! “I am within my constitutional right to run for president, and that will not stop,” he said.