There is an old Swahili saying “Aliye na hamu ya kupanda juu hukesha (A person who desires to get to the top must stay awake)”.
Unfortunately for Wiper and its constituents, the Kamba people, their leader Kalonzo Musyoka has fallen asleep at the wheel.
Once again Kalonzo has been crossed and outwitted by ODM leader Raila Odinga. Kalonzo can sign all the MoUs he wants, Raila will always find a way to outfox his perennially subjugated number two.
Although one can easily detect that Kalonzo is seething at the latest back-stabbing, he has made no discernible effort to remedy his situation and stand up to Raila, his tormentor.
Perhaps for the first time since the formation of the Wiper Democratic Movement, Kalonzo is facing open revolt in the party he created. Many of his most loyal friends have had enough and are abandoning him.
Upon the release of the NASA lineup, with Raila as flagbearer, National Assembly minority whip Francis Nyenze released an official Wiper statement saying they were shocked by the announcement of Raila as NASA principal and not Kalonzo. The Kamba nation was expecting Kalonzo to be named flagbearer.
“We knew there was an MoU in 2013 that was trashed, we are sure this will happen again. Kalonzo was given a raw deal,” Nyenze told the media.
A subsequent press conference was hastily arranged where Nyenze, under instruction, retracted his statement. But he is still seething and is one of the leaders of the rebellion.
However, the damage was most certainly done and Raila’s latest wounding of Kalonzo, and his friends adding to the deep cuts, has the Wiper sharks circling.
Wiper chairman and Kitui Senator David Musila was among a group of leaders who have accused Kalonzo of endorsing certain leaders prior to the Wiper nominations.
However, the decision by party strongman and main financier Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama to quit Wiper was the clearest indication that Kalonzo is in serious trouble. Muthama accused Kalonzo of running Wiper like a dictator by imposing his own candidates on the party.
However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the news that Kalonzo had nominated his son Kennedy to the East African Legislative Assembly, a move that has brought uproar in the party.
In the past, Kalonzo would not have needed anyone’s support or acquiescence to make such decisions. However, the times have changed and the genesis was on April 27, when Wiper found out that, once again, it was being used by ODM in an attempt to bring Raila to power.
The Kamba people will once again be used and abused by the Luo leader as mere electoral fodder. Nonetheless, the open mutiny in Wiper shows the Kamba have had enough of this position as also-rans in Raila’s Game of Thrones.
Kalonzo has become like the ‘emperor with no clothes’. While he continues as if everything is business as usual, he has lost his status in the party.
Moreover, he has begun to express doubt that NASA will win the election and has instead begun to refocus efforts on his 2022 bid.
Speaking at the Bomas of Kenya, Kalonzo urged his party supporters to rally behind him as he prepares to occupy State House in 2022, implicitly hinting he will be the next President after Uhuru Kenyatta. In other words, Raila will once again lose.
This is the moment of truth for the politician dubbed ‘Watermelon Man’ to show he has a backbone. If he has doubts about NASA’s chances of winning, he must cut the umbilical cord, implicitly or explicitly, with Raila and ODM, and start to worry about the future of his party and people.
Majority leader, National Assembly.