Deputy President Kithure Kindiki delivers his speech after he was installed as the Mt Kenya spokesperson at Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu County.

📋 Breaking It Down

The September 19 coronation of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki as the Mt Kenya kingpin has exposed deep divisions within the Kiama Kia Ma Council of Elders, with two rival factions claiming legitimacy and each disputing the authority of the other.

A seven-hour secret meeting of 63 elders convened on September 28 by Kiama Kia Ma patron Kung’u Muigai, who is chairman of the Kenya Cultural Council Board, concluded that the council founded in 2010 is fractured and lacks a legitimate mandate to coronate anyone until the dispute is resolved through reconciliation or the courts.

The meeting also revived allegations that the council suffered a registration coup through forgery, setting the stage for the bitter contest over which faction has the authority to speak for the community.

📌 What You Need to Know

More significantly, the dispute has exposed political fault lines ahead of the 2027 General Election, with allegations that former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua may have been involved in the events surrounding the council’s registration dispute.

Mr Gachagua has, however, distanced himself from the intrigue. Speaking to supporters in Kansas City during his ongoing visit to the United States, he dismissed the elders who coronated Prof Kindiki as ‘fake’.

Read:  DP Kindiki vows to unite Mt Kenya, rejects East-West split in tour of Gachagua Nyeri turf

Mr Muigai confirmed to the Daily Nation that the September 28 meeting began at 8pm and ended at about 2am.

“By the time we left the meeting, it was clear that the Kiama Kia Ma council that was formed in 2010 and was to hold elections every four years is no longer united and has fractured. The founders and subsequent convenor of the original Kiama Kia Ma have been overthrown,” he said.

The meeting concluded that the council is facing a legitimacy crisis, leaving two competing wings whose claims can only be resolved through reconciliation or a determination by a court of law.

📰 Source: Nation Africa