Governor Meru Kiraitu Murungi and Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture Peter Munya have renewed their political rivalry ahead of next year’s general election.

The first two horns stranded in the 2017 election as they contested for the seat of governor of Meru.

The battle for the siege boiled down to a conflict of Meru sub-tribe ideologies and numbers. And just like other candidates for governor, Mr. Munya, who was the first governor of Meru, capitalizes on the “flaws” of the incumbent to overthrow him.

The CS rejected Mr Murungi’s request to form a regional party, which saw the governor fail in his mandate.

The CS is campaigning for Jubilee Party candidate Samson Kinyua in the October 14 mini-poll in the Kiagu neighborhood. He poured cold water on Mr Murungi’s opinion that Jubilee is dead and told the county boss to forget the governor’s seat in 2022 and “return to the Senate” to await his retirement from the Senate. Politics.

But Mr Murungi fired back, saying his performance record was “there for anyone with eyes to see”. He added that Mr. Munya’s five-year tenure as governor “was only a pale shadow” of his four.

“To name just a few of my government’s achievements, we drilled and equipped 195 boreholes in four years compared to 17 for Munya in five years. We also built 273 ECDE classrooms compared to 100 for Munya during his tenure and completed 105 ECDE classrooms, which he failed to complete, ”the governor said on Tuesday.

“Let Munya come. I’m not afraid of it. If there’s one man we’re sure to beat in 2022, it’s Munya,” the governor said.

Regarding the formation of a regional party, which, according to Munya, “added no value to the mwananchi”, the governor said that Mr. Munya knew nothing about party politics.

“Munya does not have the mandate to comment on questions concerning political parties. The last party he won elected office with was the Mbus (Kenya Alliance Party), which I had formed. He failed to win with the PNU (National Unity Party) in the last elections despite being the incumbent governor.

“Even the ruling Jubilee Party, which he is campaigning for the candidate in the Kiagu neighborhood, was formed by me,” he said.

The new controversy has also brought to the fore the deep-rooted politics of the sub-tribes in Meru, with the 2022 competition to be based on the strength of each candidate in the Igembe and Imenti sub-counties.

CS Munya has enjoyed a large following among the Igembe, while Governor Murungi has huge support in his backyard Imenti. In the 2017 general election, Mr. Munya obtained most of his votes in Igembe, a basket of votes that Mr. Murungi wants to recover in 2022. There were more than 219,000 registered voters in Igembe North, Center and South in 2017, which could increase once mass voter registration begins.

The governor has made inroads in the region, capitalizing on the problems facing Miraa farmers following the closure of the Somali market. Some key Igembe executives have pledged allegiance to Mr Murungi, accusing the CS of doing little to influence the reopening of the market. They include MP Maoka Maore (Igembe North), Dan Kiili, James Mithika and PNU MCAs Romano Mwito (Kangeta) and Kimathi Ithibua (Kiegoi / Antubochiu).

To weaken the CS’s political hold on Igembe, Maore led a caucus that lobbied for the community’s “political independence”, claiming that they were overshadowed by the use of the name Nyambene to refer to Tigania and Igembe.

“Meru County is made up of three distinct blocks. As we maintain the unity of Meru, we must also preserve the identity of each block so that their needs are easily expressed and understood,” Maore said recently.

Mr Kiili said they were pushing for an independent political identity to allow the Igembe community to get a fair share of the national pie.

“Currently, the Igembe are assimilated by the Tigania politically. We want to change that so that we can negotiate our part with any candidate because we have the figures.” Mr Kiili said.