Mudavadi’s gamble may backfire

Musalia Mudavadi is in a very delicate political situation. His people the Abaluhya, or to be more specific, the Maragoli, expect him to run for the Presidency in Kenya’s next general election. The feeling among the people of Western Kenya is that it is now their time “to eat”, which is the euphemism for corruptly occupying important positions in the Government for the sole purpose of milking the country dry.Like most Kenyan Africans, the Abaluhya believe, with some very justifiable proof, that when Jomo Kenyatta was the President of Kenya, Kikuyus who were very close to him were given every opportunity to grab public land and corruptly accumulate wealth by the abuse of public offices they acquired through nepotism.

Like the rest of Kenyans the Abaluhya also believe President Daniel arap Moi perfected all the Kenyatta’s crooked ways of making money by the misuse of public office. Under him the Kalenjins who were close to him accumulated so much wealth through graft that they almost made the country broke. Well known corrupt activities such as the Goldenberg scandal created a class of Kenyans who were so rich that they were able to corrupt all the three arms of the government in the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

To the disappointment of many Kenyans Mwai Kibaki is, to all intents and purposes, also paddling in the same canoe as his two predecessors. Under him the country has seen the shocking syphoning of public funds by his closest friends through such heinous scandals as Anglo Leasing disgraces which have made a handful in powerful positions become multi billionaires in the short time Kibaki has been in power. Mudavadi’s community, like many others in the country, see the purpose of Government as the road to wealth through corruption, dishonesty and exploitation of the poor.

The formation of tribal political parties is therefore the only excuse by corrupt leaders to maintain the status quo which will obliterate all efforts to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Deep inside his heart Mudavadi knows this is very wrong for the country but to survive politically as a tribal leader he has to find a means of contesting the next general election as a presidential candidate if he is to expect any support from his tribe. Musalia also knows that the only genuine political parties that are seriously concerned with the welfare of the people are the ODM and Martha Karua’s Narc Kenya.

The rest are a collection of tribal organisations that hope to form the next government by cooperating among themselves for the same purpose of illegally “eating” from the public funds. The tribal parties are therefore the safest stepping stones to political power and they do not even bother to hide that fact. First there was the infamous KKK organisation uniting the Kikuyus, Kambas and Kalenjins. Now there is Gema and Kamatusa which are presumably going to be joined by the so called Wiper Democratic Movement of Kalonzo Musyoka.

If the tribal leaders had their way they would unite to hoodwink the Kikuyus, Embus and Merus under Gema; Kalenjins, Masai, Turkanas and Samburus under Kamatusa, the Kambas under the Wiper party and now Musalia Mudavadi’s yet to be formed party that would ostensibly unite the Luhya people. The people will soon be fed with the most raw propaganda of “our time to eat” when in reality the tribal leaders will be uniting to oppose the new Constitution which is proving to be too bitter a pill for the corrupt leaders to swallow.

Musalia Mudavadi knows very well that the ODM has accepted his conditions of organising the party’s primary elections from the grassroots to nominate presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial candidates. He, more than anyone else, knows that party rules demand that that cannot be done without amending its constitution. The notice to amend the party constitution to adopt Mudavadi’s proposals has been given to the registrar of political parties and a timeline has been established to follow and implement the proposals before the next general elections.

Meanwhile the party had to get itself registered in preparation for the next elections and also in an effort to meet the required legal deadlines. Musalia knows there was no sinister plan to register the party without the necessary constitutional amendments in order to stab him in the back. But he also knows even if the elections were to be organised from the grassroots level Raila would beat him hands down. Forming his own political party could only mean the end of his political career as there is no hope in hell of him getting elected the next President of the Republic of Kenya.

Gema and Kamatusa together with the Wiper party would never support Mudavadi’s presidential candidature. Their purpose of appearing to back him at the moment is a cunning scheme to weaken both ODM and Raila. With Musalia out of the ODM all the KKK plans would be much easier to implement as the Luhya people would be seriously divided with some supporting their new tribal party and others, among the enlightened ones, remaining in the ODM.

If Musalia therefore wants to remain in politics after the next general election he has to remain in the ODM which can offer him an easy-to-win governorship or a seat in the Senate from a variety of constituencies. He must not dream of being the party’s presidential candidate or even Raila’s running mate as the team of the two would be seen as an attempt at establishing an exclusive government of western Kenya leaders.His biggest task at the moment must be to preach the gospel of the new Constitution to his Luhya people, and indeed the rest of Kenyans, to make them realise the days of tribal politics in this country disappeared with the promulgation of the current constitution.

With or without Mudavadi ODM should now start campaigning as one of the two parties that both supports and intends to implement the new Constitution. Kenyans overwhelmingly supported the new constitution so as to take part in the onerous task of bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. Kenyans want to hear from all the political parties, which are serious about development in this country, a clear elaboration of how they intend to implement chapter six on leadership and integrity and chapter five on land and environment.

None of the tribal political parties that are being revamped or given new faces now have any manifestos showing how they intend to expeditiously implement the new constitution. As a matter of fact none of the tribal leaders is talking of change in Kenya. All they want is to find ways and means of perpetuating their stay in power from where they will continue to exploit the people of Kenya.