I will go for Senate, Governor Muthomi Njuki declares

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Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki will vie for a Senate seat in next year’s General Election.

Njuki, who doubles up as the chairperson of the Council of Governors, declared his interest in the Senate seat, even as a proposed law seeking to bar governors from running for the position before 10 years have passed is pending.

His announcement brings the number of aspirants to at least four, so far.

Former governor Mbae Ragwa from Maara and who served for one term (2013-2017), has announced his bid for the senator's seat too.

Senator Mwenda Gataya, who won the seat on President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in 2022, has opted not to seek re-election, and will instead vie for MP of Tharaka constituency, currently held by Gitonga Murugara, also of UDA.

Mr Murugara plans to vie for Governor, as does Woman Representative Susan Ngugi.

Former Chuka University Vice Chancellor Prof Erastus Njoka, from Chuka-Igambang'ombe constituency, and who Njuki beat in 2022, will make a second stab at the seat.

Governor Njuki, who served as Chuka-Igambang'ombe MP before he won the seat, said he was firmly in the race for Senate.

"Muthomi Njuki will next vie for Senator of Tharaka-Nithi County. Those who were doing their political arithmetic without including me in the race should do their calculations again,” he said.

Njuki said he wanted to be in the Senate to be able to protect the interests of Tharaka Nithi people, and the resources the devolved unit gets from the central government.

"I want to be a senator with a difference, and I will protect the development resources that come to Tharaka Nithi," he said in Maara.

Not long ago, Njuki stoked political controversy when he said Chuka-Igambang'ombe constituency, where he comes from, should not produce the next governor.

He was of the view that the seat should go to either Maara or Tharaka constituency.

"It is being mean for the people of Chuka/Igambang’ombe constituency where I come from to claim governorship in 2027 after having it for 10 years. It is time for either Tharaka or Maara,” Njuki said at the time, but he has since retracted his remarks.

He said: "The people have asked me not to say who I want as governor. I have said I will leave them to decide and I will hand over the instruments of power and records to whoever they elect."