Elders want Mwakwere for deputy premier

POLITICS
Story by DANIEL NYASSY

Lobbying for the position of deputy prime minister intensified on Saturday with elders from the nine Mijikenda sub-tribes calling on President Mwai Kibaki to consider Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere for the post.

The elders from the Giriama, Duruma, Digo, Chonyi, Kambe, Kauma, Ribe, Rabai and Jibana Mijikenda sub-tribes met in Magarini constituency in Malindi on Thursday and said they had confidence in the leadership of Mr Mwakwere. They added that he was the best placed politician from the region to be considered for the deputy PM’s post.

The call for the appointment of a deputy prime minister from the Coast has been taken a notch higher with the Kaya Elders and the Mijikenda Community Council of Elders rooting for Kaloleni MP Samuel Kambi and Matuga MP Mwakwere, respectively.

Mzee Abdalla Ali Mnyenze, the chairman of Kwale and Mombasa district Kayas (traditional forests), said Mr Mwakwere would be officially anointed by the elders on March 24 in an elaborate traditional ceremony at Kinondo in Kwale district to prepare him to take over the community’s leadership mantle.

They called on President Kibaki to make a serious statement that he “respects” the Coast people by making the appointment.
The elders said that the government has been offered an opportunity to prove that they believe Coast people deserve to be in “serious national positions of leadership”.

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Publication Date: 3/23/2008