Jun. 18, 2016,
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POLITICAL supremacy battles in Ukambani pitting Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka came to the fore once again during the recent visit to Ukambani by President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto.
The rivalry was all the more keen given Cord-Wiper’s attitude that it owns the Ukambani vote bloc and can do with it what it wishes. The truth of the matter is that these personal political projections have no reflection on how the community will vote in 2017 – more about this shortly.
On the ground, the community is increasingly amenable to the Uhuru Presidency, if recent political developments are anything to go by.
The political ego tripping attendant upon the Presidential tour of Ukambani had an eye steadily on the General Election.
Sample the following: Two days before the President began his tour of Ukambani, Kalonzo jetted back into the country from a three-week working sojourn in China.
Unlike the case in the past, his supporters, mainly parliamentary, gubernatorial and MCA hopefuls from Ukambani based in Nairobi, made a point of trooping to JKIA for a welcome-back- home ceremony.
The group made considerable noise in the JKIA Arrivals lounge before they escorted Kalonzo to breakfast at the Ole Sereni Hotel, some five kilometres away on Mombasa Road.
It would appear that the purpose of the much-publicized arrival was to create such hype in Ukambani that it would destabilize and overshadow the organisers of the Presidential tour.
Even that late in the day, Kalonzo had yet to confirm whether or not he would attend the Presidential tour on his home turf of Mwingi.
Unperturbed by the Wiper noise, the organisers of the Uhuru visit went ahead to conclude their preparations in various undisclosed locations in Machakos, Karen and in a posh hotel located along Lang’ata Road.
The groups were coordinated by Governor Mutua, his various aides and networks all over Ukambani, including Health CS Dr Cleopa Mailu and URP secretary general Fred Muteti. Behind the scenes, senior civil servants and regional administrators provided logistical support.
They worked round the clock to ensure that the trip was a success. The game plan was simple: Avoid political networks and contacts known to be loyal to the Wiper brigade and target new and fresh leaders with a view to launching a clean break from the past in time for the General Election.
It was for this reason that the organisers decided against political rallies, opting instead to undertake a meet-the-people tour in Mwingi, the Mui Basin, Masinga, Tala, Matuu Town and Kitui.
However, contrary to some reports, the Wiper leadership never snubbed the two top members of the Presidency. A group of leaders, among them Minority leader in Parliament Francis Nyenze, Kitui Senator David Musila and MPs Major (Rtd) Mutua Muluvi and Makali Mulu were waiting for Uhuru at Mutomo town, where he was expected to tour and unveil development projects.
Sources close to the opposition leaders intimated that they viewed Mutomo as the more strategic place to meet the President, since he was expected to fly there after Mwingi. But the plan changed suddenly and the leaders were left stuck at Mutomo, more than 100km from Mwingi Town.
Drama unfolded at Mutomo as the leaders traded accusations, with local Jubilee MP Rose Nyamai accusing Musila of attempting to take over a function they had not been invited to.
The heated exchange forced the Minority leader to leave in a huff for his Kitui West Constituency, but not before the normally reserved Musila told off Nyamai.
The rest stayed put until it was confirmed that the President was not, after all, going to tour Mutomo and had actually flown back. They were however invited to meet the President at Kitui the following day, but they stayed away, alleging that the organisers of the trip had disrespected them.
So why did Kalonzo, aka Wiper, fail to attend the interdenominational Church function at Kitui graced by all the region’s ecumenical churches? When the Wiper man landed back from China, his political handlers prevailed upon him not to attend the function on the pretext that doing so would affect the ongoing negotiations on the IEBC impasse one way or another.
They also alleged Kalonzo was not “consulted” prior to the visit and implied that the snub was deliberately authored by his latest political nemesis in Ukambani – Machakos Governor Mutua.
The names of Mwingi North MP John Munuve and his Mwingi Central counterpart Joe Mutambu were also dropped as some of the architects of the Kalonzo snub.
So then, why is the political bad blood between Governor Mutua, Munuve, Mutambu and other leaders boiling?
It so happens that Dr Mutua has seen a political opening in Ukambani that he is seeking to fill once the Wiper man exits the scene. Mutua, political analysts say, had hoped to bide his time until Kalonzo hangs up his political boots.
But a window opened in April 2013, when Cord lost the election and the subsequent Supreme Court petition. Having been a government insider during the Kibaki Presidency, Mutua, analysts say, reckoned that the time had come for him to plan his political future “with other progressive political forces”.
His advisers are said to have closely studied the DP’s political rise and rise. When President Daniel Moi exited the political scene in 2002, Ruto did not wait for the retired President to convene the Kalenjin Council of Elders to endorse him. The DP used his prodigious political energy to box out all the Moi political cronies lining up to inherit the former President’s political yard in the Rift Valley.
This would explain why the majority of the current crop of elected MPs, governors and senators from the Rift Valley were virtually unknown, other than Raymond and Gideon Moi and a few others.
If indeed Mutua is following in Ruto’s political footsteps, then recent sentiments attributed to him need to be watched keenly. During his State of the County address after a foreign sojourn, Mutua said his Chap Chap Movement will take Ukambani by storm in 2017 and plans to capture half of the seats in Lower Eastern in Parliament.
He intends to use his development model, which many people in Machakos appreciate but are afraid to rattle the Wiper leadership by openly supporting it, to eclipse Kalonzo.
Pundits opine that the political heat in Ukambani is on as the community weighs its options nationally after reports emerged this week that Cord leader Raila Odinga was reported to have said he may back DP Ruto for the Presidency in 2017. Suspicion is rife that the only reason why Cord nominated Kalonzo as Raila’s running mate was because Ruto had snubbed Raila.
These concerns are not- far fetched. Kalonzo and Raila traded political barbs during their time in the “Nusu Mkate” government. Until Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama politically abducted Kalonzo from the government side for his own political reasons.
Kalonzo’s core advisers to date maintain the Wiper man was averse to the idea. But Muthama, citing multiple sources, convinced Kalonzo that Raila would triumph.
Kalonzo’s last stab at the Presidency is either 2017 or 2022. After that the political landscape will have evolved so much that it will be difficult for a man or woman of his generation to be elected even as village headmen. There are even wild suggestions in Ukambani that the Mutua team is the one “blocking Kalonzo” from cooperating with Jubilee.
This talk is not far-fetched. After all, there were not dissimilar allegations galore that DP Ruto was initially opposed to dialogue over the future of the IEBC until the Church and accredited envoys intervened.
Kalonzo is a fiercely religious man. He is not politically naïve. There must be a compelling reason why he failed to attend prayers in Kitui that Sunday.
The boiling bad blood between Kalonzo and Mutua could bubble to the surface again today in Kitui Central on the occasion of the funeral of Jomo Kenyatta era Cabinet minister Ngala Mwendwa in Kitui Central, particularly if President Kenyatta is present and the region’s leaders get to address the gathering.
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