Powerful Interior Principal Secretary (PS) Karanja Kibicho has dismissed claims that he’s eyeing the Kirinyaga governor’s seat in the next General Election.
Speaking on Milele FM on Wednesday morning, Dr. Kibicho, whom the embattled Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has been blaming for her political woes, said that he is not interested in her seat.
“Today I am the PS for Interior and I have never stood anywhere and announced that I want to be elected as the governor of Kirinyaga and I have no interest,” the PS said.
Governor Waiguru had fingered PS Kibicho as the figurehead of the opposition against her leadership of the county, accusing him of funding members of the Kirinyaga County Assembly to impeach her.
The leaders’ political differences came to the fore when the Interior PS publicly castigated the governor for opposing the issuance of a title deed to pave way for the construction of the Sh15 billion Kenya Medical Research Centre (Kemri) facility in Kirinyaga.
Kibicho termed the governor’s opposition to the Kemri project “foolish”, asking her to stop holding the county into ransom.
Later, through the Ministry of Lands, the PS had the facility issued a fresh title deeed for 100 acres, leaving the governor holding a useless paper.
But the PS defended his interest in the project, saying that he had a special interest in the development of the county since he was born there and nearly all his relatives live there.
“Ninety-nine per cent of my relatives in this world are in Kirinyaga, therefore, I have many interests in the regions’ wellbeing,” Kibicho said, adding, “I did not start yesterday. I have been running a foundation called Gathuthi-ini Hope Foundation which was started in 1999 when I never knew that I would become a PS”.
Minding about the welfare of Kirinyaga residents, Kibicho said, should not necessarily be construed as constituting political ambition.
The PS has been convening meeting every fortnight at his rural home for all political leaders and government officers to plan the development of the county.
Conspicuously missing in all the meetings is the governor but Kibicho insists the gatherings are for development purposes only.
“Since 1999, how many elections have happened? There were 2002, 2007, 2013 and 2017 elections. What have I been waiting for?” he asked.
Two weeks ago, Waiguru accused Kibicho of fanning political hostility in the county.
In a hard-hitting and no holds-barred-attack on the PS just a day after spending nine hours with investigators at the headquarters of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in Nairobi, Waigury told Kibicho that he has been a primary catalyst in the destructive politics that have become the new brand of the county.
She added: “I learnt with consternation that the ill-informed impeachment motion was carried out with your tacit support. You are the primary catalyst to my political problem.”
Waiguru attributed her investigation by EACC as a wider scheme to hound her out of office before the end of her first term.
The governor also accused Kirinyaga County Senator, Charles Kibiru, besmirching her character to took over the reins of the Building Bridges Initiative in Kirinyaga and wider Mt Kenya region bloc.
“During the conversation with 20 MCAs who have ganged up and sworn to make Kirinyaga County ungovernable, you beseeched them to stay united and not to split since it’s a matter of time before you (Kibicho) and Senator took over the rein of BBI in Kirinyaga and Mt Kenya region,” she charged.
