Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli has, for the umpteenth time, gone back to the drawing board to look for a working formula for the elusive Luhya nation unity. But the leaders’ body language is not encouraging at all. They are still cocky and hardly listen to advice. Brother Atwoli is offering to mediate between the leaders but he might as well be flogging a dead horse.
In April, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula tried to spearhead this unity but their efforts were decimated by the dreams of Deputy President William Ruto. The DP did his maths and noted Luhya unity would be detrimental to his ambitions. Being the shrewd politician that he is, he invited Luhya leaders for a meeting at his Karen home. After the meeting, talks between the two Luhya leaders came a cropper.
The unity talks collapsed not so much because Ruto scuttled them: They dissolved because they were heading nowhere. Ruto did them a favour by helping them end the talks prematurely to save them time and money.
The Luhya community has six million registered voters. If they were to unite, they can easily instal a president from their community in State House. This is the fear that grips other politicians when they hear of Luhya unity. Divided, the community cannot vote as a bloc
Looking back at the political fields in Western Kenya, one cannot fail to see politicians have never cared for a united front.
A fortnight ago, Wetang’ula made peace with Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa. It was easier for the duo to “shake hands” since they are from Bungoma county. In recent times, the two Bukusu leaders have been gravitating towards the Deputy President wing of the troubled Jubilee Party.
This is the crux of the problem. Since his dramatic ejection from the coveted seat of the Senate Minority leader in March, Wetang’ula has been breathing fire and brimstone. But as expected, he has not moved even a strand of hair among his former co-principals. He had sworn that the divorce between him and NASA would be messy, but what emerged later was nothing close to anything nasty.
Allow me to make a short reversal to the politics of Bungoma. Politician Musikari Kombo doesn’t see eye to eye with his political nemesis Wetang’ula.
Last year, the two met at the late Vice President Kijana Wamalwa’s 10th anniversary. The tension between the two was palpable. Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary Ababu Namwamba forced the two and other Luhya leaders, including Mudavadi, to shake hands. That was the only time the leaders stood before the people and portrayed a semblance of unity. After that, everyone left to do what they do best—politics of me, myself and I.
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka last week took it upon himself to return Wetang’ula to the fold. So far, no talks between the two have been reported. Kalonzo has since announced he is fully in support of the March 9 handshake.
ANC’s Mudavadi is said to be in consultations with his party’s supporters before giving a nod to the handshake.
After throwing tantrums from here to Timbuktu, the Bungoma senator finally wriggled out of NASA, where he was a principal. He said NASA is dead as a dodo. Contrary to his remarks of a noisy divorce, his moving out was smooth. It was not marked with seismic movements and echoes of tectonic plates shifting and causing tremors in their wake.
Luhya unity is not possible; not now and not in the near future.