Mutava seeks to end Nyagah dynasty in Embu

Daggers are drawn in Gachoka constituency as presidential aspirant on an ODM-Kenya ticket Joseph Nyagah gears for battle with Secretary-General National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Mutava Musyimi.

Nyagah is eyeing the ODM-K presidential ticket via the little known GAP party. Musyimi one of the spiritual advisers of President Mwai Kibaki is closely associated with Narc-Kenya. Musyimi is a regular visitor to State House which will be relying on him to deliver the protestant vote to guarantee Kibaki’s second term presidential bid.

The fact Musyimi is eyeing the Gachoka seat is well manifested by current political activities he has been engaged in. A few weeks ago, the Secretary General led a delegation to visit Minister for Lands, Prof. Kivutha Kibwana on matters relating to Mwea settlement scheme.

However the visit has come out to haunt Musyimi since he appears not to have done his ground work well. The man of God carried a controversial land register that is raising eyebrows among the communities in the area.

Those who feel Musyimi left them out in favour of his Akamba clan in the constituency are Mbeere, Kirinyaga and Embu.

As if that is not enough, Musyimi using his influence in political circles organized yet another delegation to Mutua Katuku, Minister for Water Resources. The visit has once generated a lot of heat in the constituency.

For starters, Musyimi’s political background can be traced all the way when his father was a civic leader in the area. Akamba by blood, the church leader wants to bank on over 13,000 registered Kamba votes. The constituency has 49,000 votes.

Musyimi has constituted a campaign team led by Andrew Mbithi Musakwa. For years Musakwa has unsuccessfully contested the Gachoka seat. This time he has decided to hang his political boots in favour of Musyimi. Also in his camp is Musakwa’s blood brother.

According top our source within the camp, Musyimi is organizing a large delegation to visit the president with top on agenda being the split of Gachoka constituency to allow the Kamba community to have their own constituency.

The battle for Gachoka seat is on and has attracted a number of aspirants apart from Nyagah and Musyimi. The word on the ground is, all others going for the seat should agree on how to break the Nyagah dynasty which has occupied the seat since independence in 1963.

First it was the elder Nyagah Jeremiah who before retiring left it to his son Norman who shifted base to Kamukunji constituency in Nairobi after his brother Joseph decided to enter the race in 1997.