- MP Wanyonyi speaks of his journey in politics, service for Westlands constituents, and prospects to lead Nairobi County or take up a post-BBI state job.
- The lawmaker, without directly watering down his brother’s presidential ambitions, says he’d rather stick by the former Prime Minister having mentored him on matters politics.
Image: FILE
Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi resembles and speaks like his brother Moses Wetang'ula, who is the Bungoma senator.
But between them is a stark political difference to an extent that at family gatherings bringing them together, no politics is discussed.
In Kenya’s political scenario where families tend to pull together, one would expect Wanyonyi to be a Ford Kenya member, a party led by Wetang'ula.
In an interview with the Star, the lawmaker said he has always maintained, despite pressure, that he would work with Raila Odinga's ODM.
Wanyonyi spoke of his journey in politics, service for Westlands constituents and prospects to lead Nairobi county or take up a post-BBI state job.
The lawmaker, without directly watering down his brother’s presidential ambitions, says he’d rather stick by the former Prime Minister having mentored him in politics.
“My brother and I don’t talk politics at all. When we meet, we discuss family issues. He knows my stand on this and cannot ask why I am not supporting Ford Kenya. He knows my interest is in ODM,” the MP said.
The MP adds, “I’ve never been a member of Ford Kenya for starters. The only political party I have been a member of is ODM.”
After his admission to the bar in 1996, having graduated from Kenya School of Law a year earlier, Wanyonyi joined his brother’s law firm, Wetang’ula and Company Advocates, where he honed his legal skills.
“After my accident, I had to exit because it looked like I was heavily relying on my brother. The situation made me feel it would not be proper for me to continue working there.”
The MP attended Kibabii and Nairobi high schools before going to India for a Political Science and Public Administration degree and later a Bachelor of Law at Delhi University.
Wanyonyi came to the limelight when he threw his hat in the ring to wrestle the Westlands MP seat from the abrasive Fred Gumo of ODM.
He also faced off with tycoons Kamlesh Pattni and Amin Walji in the 2013 race.
However, his maiden entry to politics was in 2007 when he was drawn into the Raila campaign team on the platform of people living with disability.
After the elections, ODM nominated Wanyonyi to City Hall and was a member of crucial oversight committees.
Speaking about Nairobi, the MP says the city’s woes can be fixed if there is the right mix of leadership and prudent management of resources.
Wanyonyi, who has declared interest in the Nairobi Governor seat should it be retained in the 2022 election, says his style would be to entrench equity.
He says the city has sufficient resources — about Sh25 billion annually — that can do a lot if properly utilised.
“When there is equity, there is enough for all of us. But greedy people can steal all of the billions.”
“I am very sure everybody who comes to a position of power is coming to improve not to maintain the status quo. That is what I will do if the seat is open to contest,” the MP said.
“All that we need is a paradigm shift. Just say we are changing the story and injecting new things.”
In his strategy, Wanyonyi says residents associations remain key to developing workable ideas to solve the city’s problems such as garbage collection, water supply, and health.
“We don’t need to do miracles. In Nairobi, you just need to get the good intentions. We have young people who are so talented that if you give them a challenge, they will give you results,” the lawyer said.
For instance, he says if it were him at the helm of City Hall, he would employ a citizen-driven waste management strategy that considers trash as wealth.
“I went to Tokyo and found they practice zero waste. On asking, I realised that Tokyo was the dirtiest city in Japan. Then came a Prime Minister who went to radio every time telling residents to change. The city today is very much orderly to an extent it has become boring.”
“Japanese have turned their waste into green energy. Waste is big business elsewhere. It is only in this country where we are wasting waste,” Wanyonyi said.
The lawmaker is banking on his development record to raise his stakes in the quest for the seat, noting that he would also prefer being a Cabinet minister should the BBI process scrap Nairobi.
“I said I’d serve two terms then exit and look for something else to do. God willing, also looking at what the BBI will present, I may want to go for the position of the Governor of Nairobi if not changed.”
“Since we are bringing ministers back to Parliament, I can be one and it is only then that I will defend my seat. If that’s not the case, I will fight out with the others keen on running Nairobi.”
The MP boasts of an impressive record in improving conditions of public schools in his constituency, citing computer labs he spearheaded at the various institutions.
“We felt that this was the best way to go as you cannot go to a school of 2,000 children and give each of them a laptop. It is not practical. But when you build a computer lab, all kids will access it. I thought this would make more sense than what the government was doing in the digital literacy project, and hence its failure,” Wanyonyi said.
The MP is hailed for one of the most successful table-banking drives which have enabled women in his constituency to revolve up to Sh150 million for the past five years.
“This is the concept we are using to eradicate poverty, especially in low-income communities. We structured it for more profitability,” the MP said adding that the same has transcended to youths who engage in various economic livelihoods support programmes."