Presidential hopefull Lugari Mp Cyrus Jirongo addressing residents at the Muliro Garden in Kakamega.He said the elusive Luhya unity could only be achieved by the people themselves and not the leaders due to their selfish ambitions. [PHOTO |John Kabaka | West Fm]

The long debated and long awaited Luhya unity can only be brought by the people themselves and not the leaders, presidential aspirant and Lugari legislator Cyrus Jirongo has said.

He said that leaders from the region cannot come together and chat the way of the community’s unity saying each one of them has his self selfishness.

“Luhya unity cannot be brought by the leaders we have because everyone has his one selfish needs and not willing to support one another, it is the people of the region who can come together and decide who is who something that I believe will indeed unite the community,” said Jirongo.

He observed that other communities that prevail because of their community came together and decided to choose who the best warrior to lead them was.

He said the Kikuyu, Kalenjin and the Luo have achieved the community unity because they sat and decided who was better placed to lead them into the battle.

“The Luo came together, despite having so many learned and able leaders, decided that Raila was the best person to lead them and they achieved, the Kalenjin despite having other political heavyweights they chose on the young Ruto to lead them and they are fine with that, the kikuyu have been looking around and they decided that regardless of there being others Uhuru Kenyatta was the best to lead them and they are indeed united behind him,” remarked Jirongo.

He said time had come for the community to take the responsibility, come together, discuss and decide who the best warrior for them was.

“You have what it take as a community, the responsibility is yours, the ball is now in your court to sit and give us a warrior you think can indeed  lead us into winning this battle, we are not different to other communities and it’s now or never, you decide,” he reiterated.

“I have tried to unite them but in vain, we even sat as I prepared to come here but each one of them just thinks of him alone, we sit talk and discuss but leave the table with divided minds,” he added.

Jirongo made the remarks in Kakamega when he met various leaders and stakeholders at a Kakamega hotel before addressing a political rally at the Muliro Gardens.

Earlier the KNUT officials from the Western region counties had warned that no aspirant from the region will descend to power without unity.

“I am seeing a big crowd here with Jirongo present, when Musalia comes the same crowd will be present, the same to Wetangula, Eugine and others, we only have one vote per individual and if you can’t come together and tell us who is who our vote will be useless and none of you will get on the hill top,” said Alice a Vihiga County Knut official.

Apart from politics, Jirongo urged the electorate to cease from electing corrupt leaders saying they are big setback to the nation’s development.

“The nation will always lag behind in terms of development when we have corrupt people in leadership, it’s you people to decide which kind of a leader you need,” He said.

He urged the NCIC Chair Mzalendo Kibunjia to tread carefully saying he will not be intimidated by the commission for saying the truth.

“Mzalendo Kibunjia should be in a position to differentiate between saying the truth and hate speech, if saying the truth is what he calls hate speech then am not ready to stop that,” he said.

Jirongo was accompanied by a number of civic leaders from the region. No member of parliament joined him.

He affirmed that he was going to launch his new political party on 5th of August in Nairobi a party he said will belong to all Kenyan’s who believe in justice and truth.