We should not let politics of personality shape Muranga county

Politics in Muranga seem to have started shaping as the country heads to the 2017 General elections.
Political scheming and strategising has divided the county into two, Muranga South and Muranga North, visibly after the 2013 elections.
The county, number 23, as of 2013 had about 457,052 registered votes with the south having a total of 284,950 and north 172,102 registered voters.
From way back, Political negligence and arrogance, as well as inadequate attention to the people's socio-economic needs and demands have been identified as the main factors behind the ouster of leaders in the area.
However, during the last elections, the whole county voted in the infamous 'suit' in that they largely voted for the Jubilee candidates.
The election of Governor Mwangi wa iria, his deputy Gakure Monyo, Senator (Kembi Gitura) and Sabina Chege (women’s representative) seem to have been turning point of Muranga politics.
All these leaders hail from Muranga North and that seems to have been the beginning of a rift of the leaders in the area.
Muranga South comprises Maragwa (69,353), Kandara (80,554), Kigumo (60,921) and Gatanga (74,122) constituencies with a combined voting block of 284,950 while North comprises Kiharu (89,180), Mathioya (43,141) and Kangema (39,781) constituencies with a total of 172,102 registered voters.
Leaders from the south have since then shown their dissatisfaction over the election of leaders from one part of the county and have been quietly been campaigning to change the trend in the coming elections.
Kandara MP Alice Wahome and her Kigumo counterpart Jamleck Kamau have in the past shown disatisfaction by slowly aligning for the 2017 elections.
Jamleck is in the final stages of kicking of his gubernatorial campaigns and Alice Wahome is also rumoured to be contemplating contesting a higher seat in 2017. It is still not clear which seat she is eying but reports indicate that she will be battling it out with Sabina Chege for the women rep’s seat.
In the run up to the 2013 elections, Muranga leaders had a gentleman's agreement that was not followed to the latter by the leaders from Northern Muranga after they were elected to office as the three top seats were not shared as had been agreed upon.
In the agreement, Murang’a South (Maragua, Kandara, Gatanga and Kigumo constituencies) was to produce governor and senator would hail from North (Kiharu, Kangema and Mathioya constituencies).
The deputy governor and Women representative were to be elected from the South.
The breaking of the agreement is what have heated up politics in he area almost one and a half years to the 2017 poll.
Muranga south leaders seem to be supporting Jamleck's bid to seek election as governor and this has not augored well with the current county government leadership led by Mwangi Wa iria.
The governor who has vowed to defend his seat in 2017 feels he is yet to deliver all the pledges he made during the 2013 elections.
Wa Iria has among other things established state of the art medical facilities in many parts of the county.
Wa iria has built the Kenneth Matiba Eye, Dental and Cancer Diagnostic Center that provides high quality, specialized healthcare at subsidized rates to residents.
In his tenure, Wa Iria has bagged two awards during the 2015 Governors' Award; Agriculture, food security and Education awards for his role in empowering farmers and also investing in education like starting a public primary boarding school in the county with subsidized fees.
The governor has in the last three years set up milk coolants in all wards in the county to ensure milka farmers have a market for their products.
Despite this, Wa iria has had one of the toughest terms as governor.
In 2015, he was impeached and accused of misusing cash and failing to manage the county’s debt.
Wa Iria was impeached after 34 out of 49 MCAs voted for his removal, for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office.
The governor was however reinstated after the Senate the committee instituted to investigate him ruled that charges levelled against Mwangi did not meet the constitutional threshold for impeachment.
In January this year, chaos erupted at the Governor's home in Thika after a group of boda boda riders and supporters reportedly fought off anti-graft officers who had raided the residence.
The supporters and boda boda operators allegedly stormed his home and roughed up the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officials before police arrived and calmed the situation.
EACC officers had raided the governor's home after getting complaints about an investment initiative started by the county government dubbed Shilling kwa Shilingi.
Wa iria who is alleged to have interest of being Deputy President William Ruto in the 2022 polls was later re-arrested for obstructing investigations during the raid in his Thika home.
He accused his political enemies of the arrest by EACC officers at the Agha Khan hospital in Parklands.
On the other hand Muranga south MCA's and to a large extent the north have been laying groundwork or Jamleck's ascension from his current MP seat.
The MP who has served for two terms as Kigumo legislator is a seen to be more closer to President Uhuru Kenyatta and he also enjoys the support of teachers and teachers' unions because he has largely invested in education in the area.
Jamleck is expected to use the good education standards that have greatly improved in his Kigumo constituency leading to Kigumo emerging the best in the county’s subcounties in his campaign.
The two leaders have been trading accusations and blaming each other on political meetings
Wa Iria and his guards created a scene in Kandara in September 2015 when they confronted Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau as the two leaders waited for Deputy President William Ruto’s arrival.
“Repeat the allegations you have been making to the media,” demanded the governor. But Jamleck sat pensively as supporters of the governor hurled abuse at him, accusing him of corruption.
As the situation threatened to get out of hand, County Commissioner Kula Hache intervened and threw the youth out of the VIP area.
Wa Iria refused to comment on the incident, only saying: “There is nothing to say. We all saw what happened.”