Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua caused laughter as he recalled how Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi was unable to pronounce ‘Attorney General’ and instead said ‘Attoney Njeru’, which ended up becoming a nickname for former Attorney General Justin Muturi.

While speaking during the book launch of JB Muturi, Gachagua said that he was forced to carry the burden of his senator, who was elected on his Democratic Party (DP) ticket, a party where he serves as the party leader, after the senator went ahead to mispronounce the word ‘Attorney General’.

According to Gachagua, Mundigi never knew the meaning of the word and thought it was the official name of a person, hence saying ‘Anthony Njeru’.

This caused laughter inside the room, with Gachagua continuing to express his frustration with the kind of leaders produced by the region.

He said that such instances were the reason he lamented at Thika Greens about the quality of leaders from the Mt Kenya region, pleading with lawyers to help him produce leaders of high quality and integrity.

“Another nickname for JB Muturi is Anthony Njeru. Do I tell you how the name was arrived at? You heard me the other day lamenting at Thika Green on the quality of leaders from our region. You heard me cry and plead with lawyers to save my community by electing leaders of high quality and integrity,” Gachagua stated.

“So this man, we went to a function a senator had for being elected in Embu in his party. When he rose to speak, he wouldn’t know what an attorney general is. He said, ‘Mr Anthony Njeru.’”

Quality of leaders

Gachagua has earlier expressed his disappointment in the quality of leaders produced by the Mt. Kenya region, urging lawyers from the area that out of the 140 MPs that his Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) eyes, he wants at least 40 of them to be lawyers.

He urged legal minds to actively participate in community leadership affairs and not focus only on their personal matters, saying that this lack of involvement is what has allowed mediocre leaders to emerge in Mt Kenya, as the good leaders remain absent.