More than 250 elders from Mt Kenya region and the diaspora have piled pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta to name his favourite successor for the 2022 presidential race.
The leaders stated they were ready to support any candidate the president would nominate, bearing in mind he was Mt Kenya's political kingpin.
The meeting took place at Abai Hotel in Kagio town, Kirinyaga County on Friday, December 17, 2021.
"We are here to state that we are behind the President and we shall back any person who he wants to take over after he retires," Elder Kanyi Maina from Embu stated.
"We shall go by the wish of President Kenyatta who has been very kind to us, we shall not let him down," Kirinyaga Jubilee Party chairman Mureithi Kang'ara added.
Further, the leaders stated that they would preach peace ahead of the 2022 elections.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya and Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, who attended the meeting, stated the president had been giving non verbal cues on who his preferred candidate was.
"Whatever the president decides, we will follow. There is no stranger in Jerusalem. The president has been giving guidance and they have been seeing and reading his body language," Munya stated.
On his part, Kibicho urged attendees to be well informed and to make wise decisions during the polls.
"The leaders had a suggestion and proposals and we were here to listen to them," Kibicho weighed in.
Though President Uhuru Kenyatta has previously hinted at ODM leader Raila Odinga as his favourite candidate, he is yet to declare the same.
“When we came together, didn't we experience peace? So where is the problem? Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want that work to continue? It is up to you. Will you make wise choices? Let us see how you will do it,” he stated during a development tour in Kibra in September 2021.
