EALA MP Kanini Kega decries betrayal by Azimio MPs, urges Mt Kenya to rally behind Gachagua
East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Member of Parliament Kanini Kega now claims legislators allied to the Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya coalition betrayed him during a recent vote to elect Kenya's representatives to the regional assembly.
Speaking to a local radio station on Wednesday, November 23, the former Kieni MP said a majority of Azimio MPs were against his bid for the EALA job and voted for other nominees during the vote conducted on November 17.
According to Kega, having aggressively campaigned for Azimio's presidential candidate Raila Odinga in Mt Kenya region in the last election and losing his Kieni seat in the process, he expected the legislators to support his bid.
"I thought my people from Azimio would support me but when we went for campaigns they started complaining that Jubilee has three nominees and they didn’t know who to vote for yet I lost my seat because of supporting their candidate (Raila Odinga). I was shocked when the voting was done. Some of them voted for people I did not even recognise," he said in an interview with Inooro FM.
"I could not believe that would happen to me considering how I stuck out my neck for one of their own," Kega lamented.
He said he only got the job after support from Kenya Kwanza MPs following an intervention from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Gachagua is said to have rallied the Kenya Kwanza troops behind Kieni after concerns that the central region risked losing out on representation to the regional assembly.
Expressing his gratitude to Gachagua, Kega urged Mt Kenya leaders to rally behind the deputy president, saying he is now the senior most politician from the region after the retirement of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
"What happened during the voting for EALA MPs taught us (Mt Kenya region) a lot. Rigathi Gachagua did well in uniting us, this is the only senior leader we have in Mt Kenya. We need to rally behind him as a region," Kega urged.
"I want to thank the DP Rigathi Gachagua who saw that Mt Kenya region will have a problem if we are not represented in Arusha...Were it not for Mt Kenya leaders who are not in Azimio, ningeonea EALA seat Viusasa."
The comments come days after Gachagua admitted to having helped Kega bag the EALA seat.
Speaking in Magumoni, Tharaka Nithi County, during the burial of Chuka Igambang’ombe MP Patrick Munene’s daughter Natasha Makena last weekend, Gachagua said he was keen on uniting the region after divisions witnessed during the presidential campaigns.
“The narrative that Mt Kenya unites during voting but divides immediately after polls with Mt Kenya West benefiting will never be there again.”
