Jubilee brings the curtains down on Duale as he is finally elbowed out

Aden Duale, the former National Assembly Majority Leader is known by many to be a vocal politician and a staunch defender of the current regime led by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Duale is the man who has been in control of the House Business for the past eight years.

However, June 22 marked the end of his tenure in the key role of Majority Leader - an anti-climax in the career of one of the most powerful leaders in the Jubilee Government.

The Garissa Township MP has also been in charge of the famous Constituency Development Fund – CDF.

Though axed, Duale will be remembered for his spirited defence of the Jubilee Government in and out of the Parliament chambers.

For years, the Garissa Township MP has remained loyal to his bosses; President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto while not shying from defending them since 2013 when they ascended to the Presidency.

Deputy President William Ruto on Monday praised former National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale for his dedicated service in Parliament for the last eight years.

Ruto said Duale discharged his service and responsibility to the Jubilee Party in style during his tenure.

"My brother Aden Duale, you are a great leader. For the last 8 years, you discharged your responsibilities as our party's 1st majority leader with style, precision, passion and loyalty," Ruto said.

He added that "My friend when parliamentary history is written you will have a chapter. Mbele iko sawa na Mungu."

The controversial legislator painted the image of a vocal and fearless politician enjoying the backing of State House.

Duale has grown in leaps and bounds to become a political enigma in the country.

Duale was born in 1969 and comes from the Abdulwak of the Talamooge sub-clan, which is part of the larger Ogaden clan.

The 51-year-old politician attained his Certificate of Primary Education in 1981 at the Garissa Boys Primary school before he joined Garissa High School where he obtained his KCSE certificate.

He later joined Moi Forces Academy for  Kenya Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education (KACSE) and later joined Moi University for economics and history.

In 1993, Duale was appointed as the Garissa Provincial Commissioner before he left and became the proprietor of Medina Chemicals.

In 1997, he founded the Live Stock Traders and Marketing Society of Kenya before he was appointed Director at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation – KBC.

Duale was thereafter appointed the Assistant Minister Ministry of Livestock Development before he tossed himself in politics where he won the Dujis parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket in the 2007/08 election.

He then switched parties five years later and was re-elected on a United Republican Party ticket.

After outworking himself during campaigns to ensure that UhuRuto garnered enough votes from the North Eastern region, Duale was rewarded and elected as the Majority leader in the National assembly.

The vocal MP is known to use soft and convincing language to get Jubilee party members to vote for acceptable legislative changes, some of which were deemed controversial but never challenged in the High Court.

Despite his loyalty to the party leadership, Duale has been a news maker for both good and bad reasons.

In 2015, he surprised the country when he vowed to release a list of Al-Shabaab financiers within 30 days following the Garissa University terrorist attack that left 148 people dead.

This, however, remained just but a threat as it never happened.

Despite such grave claims, nobody dared to touch him despite numerous calls by the opposition for his arrest.

Earlier on, Duale had made headlines after he openly blasted former Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto for demanding more money to fund the devolved units.

All was well during the event attended by other dignitaries from East African Community (EAC) until when Duale rose to speak and faulted ex-governor Rutto over his advocacy for the 'pesa mashinani'  (money to grassroots) referendum calls.

“Hii pesa sio ya mama yako' (This money does not belong to your mother), Duale said, a statement that nearly resulted to a fist-fight between him and Rutto.

His political troubles began in 2014 when MPs allied to the TNA party of President Uhuru Kenyatta revived their attempts to remove him as majority leader.

Six MPs then held a press conference at Parliament Buildings and accused Duale of being an agent of destabilisation in Jubilee and that he was drunk with power.

Duale belonged to Deputy President William Ruto's URP party which had been having a frosty relationship with TNA in the Jubilee coalition.

The move came after Duale threatened to withdraw his support for the government if the security operation in Eastleigh was not stopped.

Duale has been transformed in his political journey from when he joined parliament in 2007.

Last year, the vocal MP seemed to have resolved to bite the bullet by speaking his mind regardless of rubbing either Uhuru or Ruto the wrong way.

While Uhuru was pushing for a referendum through the BBI, Duale as a majority leader remained silent for some time and when he spoke about the issues, he had a different opinion contrary to his party leader.

His political manoeuvers and public statements while backing the parliamentary system of government and telling off Mount Kenya leaders critical of the system came as a surprise to many.

Duale has also been caught up in a public spat with Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, who was also axed as the Senate Majority leader in the ongoing Jubilee purge.

The two have publicly disagreed on the two houses after Murkomen declared that 'Parliament was dead', a statement which did not go down well with Duale.

In May, President Uhuru Kenyatta made drastic changes in the senate de-whipping Murkomen and Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika from their powerful position.

The changes came after a meeting between Uhuru and Kanu chairman Gideon Moi where the two agreed on the formation of a post-election coalition.

In the Jubilee-Kanu post-election deal, the two political parties came up with several policies and objectives which seem to be borrowing from the handshake.

The purge would then continue after the party de-whipped all the members believed to be rebels to the party leader.

The purge, however, sparked a storm in the party after a section of Rift Valley MPs condemned the move to de-whip the rebels.

The legislators then resolved that should Jubilee Party effect the changes, they will sponsor a motion to impeach Duale.

“Rift Valley members are concerned because of the misunderstanding arising following the election of committee chairpersons and their vice-chairpersons,” Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny said after the meeting.

A few days later, the threats materialized after 117 MPs signed a petition asking President Kenyatta to kick out Duale from the powerful office of Majority Leader.

The Kieleweke faction of Jubilee said Duale had survived the purge that saw some members axed from key House leadership roles.

But Duale said it was unfortunate that the proponents of the petition failed to raise their issues at the State House PG.

The Kielekwe MPs behind the anti-Duale plot claimed Uhuru did not publicly endorse Duale during the Jubilee PG when he read out the names of those he wanted retained.

But a statement from State House spokesperson Kanze Dena indicated that the PG had resolved that Duale retains his role as leader of government business in the National Assembly.

This, according to the Kieleweke diehards, was not the case as the matter was allegedly deferred until another PG to be held in two weeks.

Some of the MPs who attended the tense PG confirmed that Kenyatta announced the removal of Benjamin Washiali and Cecily Mbarire but left out Duale to the dismay of the Kieleweke team.

Duale has made 16,573 appearances in Parliament and sponsored 26 bills.

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