Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i is allegedly plotting to take a stab at the presidency in 2022.
According to reports by The Star, the uncertainty surrounding Jubilee and the growing influence of the handshake, have given Matiang’i a solid opening to position himself as a player.
The recent trip by the super CS to various counties across the country inspecting and launching government projects is said to be a strategic plan to build and widen his national political following.
The CS is also reportedly working closely with influential governors and political players, among them Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, Kirinyanga Governor Anne Waiguru and Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu.
More so, Cabinet Secretaries Eugene Wamalwa (Devolution) Prof George Magoha (Education), Joe Mucheru (ICT) and Keriako Tobiko (Environment) recently joined Matiang’i in one of his visits and stated in a powerful and well-packaged message, that their support for Dr Matiang’i was unwavering.
The Saturday Nation also learnt that opposition Raila Odinga has listed Dr Matiang’i among the individuals he might support for the presidency in 2022 if he will not be on the ballot.
Odinga’s ODM party has also dropped its past criticism of the CS, with a number of its key officials becoming the latest defenders of Dr Matiang’i.
Furthermore, reports indicate that the powerful CS could be President Uhuru Kenyatta’s heir apparent or the surprise 2022 candidate.
Once considered an abrasive, cold and unwelcoming technocrat who was unpopular among the Gusii leaders, the CS appears to have registered a turnaround of fortunes with most of the elected leaders in the region now endorsing him for the presidency in 2022.
Following former powerful Cabinet minister Simon Nyachae’s exit from politics and having been the Gusii community’s kingpin, Matiang’i is emerging as his successor, elevated far above other leaders from the region.
At Riokindo High School in Kisii county last Friday, the Abagusii Council of Elders lay hands on him, a symbolic community blessing of leaders going for higher positions.
Barely a week earlier, the elders had held a press conference in Kisii town where they declared Matiang’i the region’s point man in political and socio-economic matters.
