Continued from yesterday
Mukhisa Kituyi tells a story of how after Masinde Muliro’s death and Ford was splintering into what were to become Ford Kenya and Ford Asili, Michael Kijana Wamalwa, who had taken the mantle to lead Muliro-orphans, was undecided as to whether to go the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga or Kenneth Matiba route.
That stalemate, according to Kituyi, was resolved by a section of the Bukusu elite that had organised itself into a brain trust, first for Muliro then Wamalwa. Joining Kituyi and other Young Turks, the professionals pushed Wamalwa to go the Jaramogi way.
Much as this was a political decision, it had cultural and spiritual significance.
In a widely quoted prophesy, the Bukusu freedom fighter and leader of the Dini Ya Musambwa Elijah Masinde wa Nameme spoke just three words, bubwami bukhamile khunyanja - leadership shall come through/from the lake.
The implication of these words was that for someone of Bukusu origin to lead Kenya, they had to work closely with inhabitants of the Lake Victoria area – thought to be the Luo.
It may be easy to dismiss Masinde’s prophecy, but to those who believe it, it is sacrosanct.
It is under these set of circumstances – that siding with Jaramogi’s Ford Kenya made political sense to the Bukusu elite but also went further to give meaning to Masinde’s prophecy – that Bukusus in Ford Kenya started bleeding green, black and white—the party’s colours.
This reality, therefore, meant that whoever led Ford Kenya automatically became king of the Bukusu in the political sense, seen first as Masinde Muliro’s successor then later as Wamalwa’s substitute.
These are conversations that never happen in the open, but are what drove the likes of Mukhisa Kituyi, Musikari Kombo, Eugene Wamalwa and Moses Wetang'ula to want to lead the party as a means of winning the hearts and minds of the Bukusu.
It is for this reason that Wetang'ula used and broke every rule in the book to seize the party.
After the 2007 general election, Kituyi and Kombo, who were seen as the two thriving original sons of Jaramogi and Muliro, found themselves in political limbo after losing their parliamentary seats. The fall was hard, considering before the vote they were both high-flying Cabinet ministers.
Wetang'ula, who had joined Ford Kenya late and wasn’t a full minister before the polls, had somehow won reelection and been made Minister for Foreign Affairs.
To Wetang'ula, it was only natural that he became leader of Ford Kenya, the ultimate prize.
"At one point Musikari Kombo said he wanted to retire from politics, which would have meant him leaving the party to me as earlier agreed," Wetang'ula says.
"He then went back on his word on retirement, then started toying with the idea of passing on the baton to Eugene Wamalwa."
This, Wetang'ula wouldn’t agree to.
As an electoral contest was being put in place, Eugene cried foul over Wetang'ula’s supposed underhand tactics and withdrew from the race. He accused Wetang'ula of rigging the vote before the National Delegates Conference, while Wetang'ula accused Eugene of chickening out. Subsequently, Wetang'ula was elected unopposed as leader of Ford Kenya.
With that, Wetang'ula was home and dry.
I ask Wetang'ula why taking over Ford Kenya was so important to him.
"It was very critical to become party leader," he says, "because all serious political activities are centred around parties. And if you want to know how important parties are, think of how Kibaki became President as a leader of a party with less than 30 MPs and Wamalwa became Vice President with less than 20 MPs in a National Assembly of 222 members."
To Wetang'ula, if Kibaki and Wamalwa did it with small parties, then why not him?
"I remember sitting with Mwai Kibaki after Kanu had imploded and Raila Odinga had led a walkout," Wetang'ula says, "and I heard Kibaki telling Raila and his team 'welcome gentlemen, we are now going to be a bigger and formidable team, but remember as you join us, there are two non-negotiable positions—that of flagbearer and that of the vice president after elections'."
In Wetang'ula’s view, it took the initial momentum of small parties to kick out Kanu in 2002. It is this template that Wetang'ula believes will be the future of Kenya, with Ford Kenya remaining a common denominator, considering the majority of the post-1992 parties have lost ground.
As Kenya’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Wetang'ula noticed a trend.
"I started seeing a trend where Minister for Foreign Affairs had either become earlier on or were becoming leaders of their countries," Wetang'ula says. "Jakaya Kikwete in Tanzania, Hailemariam Desalegn in Ethiopia, Nana Akufo Addo in Ghana, and many others."
Out of this, Wetang'ula too believed he had what it takes to step up and be counted.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives you international exposure that isn’t available to any other minister," Wetang'ula says. "And you know leading a country is about internal and external relations. Many people have ideas of how to deal with things internally, but external relations are a different ball game altogether. That is what Foreign ministers bring to the presidency."
And so Wetang'ula shared his intention to contest for the top seat with President Kibaki, who had very little to say: "Kama unataka sawa". Wetang'ula wasn’t disappointed. He didn’t expect much from Kibaki in terms of a public endorsement. And then he noticed Kibaki’s men were rooting for Uhuru Kenyatta. With that, Wetang'ula opted for Cord, then Nasa, and now Oka.
"You don’t have to be big to be a winner," Wetangula says of his small-party-big coalition arithmetic. "All you need to do is to be part of a big team that supports you."
It is out of the same thinking that Wetang'ula has refused to snub running for a legislative seat, since he considers himself not too big to be a senator yet not too small to be a principal in a leading national coalition. But what will he do if and/or when he becomes president?
"I will make corruption so painful that nobody will dare try," he says. "I will focus on Uganda and Tanzania and treat them like the first and fifth largest trading partners to Kenya. I will open up the region and create access to the Kiswahili-speaking parts of the Congo – Goma, Bunia, Gitembo, Busenyi – because when the regional economy booms, Kenyan businesses blossom.’’
And will Ford Kenya hold its ground, seeing other parties have infiltrated Bungoma?
"Ford Kenya is embedded in my people's hearts," he says, "even those who’ve gone to other parties still come back to me and say huko tumeenda kukaa tu, lakini nyumbani ni Ford Kenya.’’
What about the wrangles rocking the party?
Those are non-issues, Wetangula says.
"Chama kiko imara kama simba."
This article is a collaboration between the Star and Debunk Media whose Editor-in-chief is Isaac Otidi Amuke
