Show no mercy to disloyal Jubilants

In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned by King Minos of Crete. Daedalus made two sets of wings from feathers glued together with wax. He taught Icarus how to fly and warned him not to fly too high, as the wax would melt, nor too low, which would cause the feathers to get wet with seawater.

Together, they flew out of the tower towards freedom. However, Icarus soon forgot his father’s warnings and started flying higher, too close to the sun. The wax started to melt and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned.

The Swahili say sikio la kufa haliskii dawa (There is no reasoning with someone who will not listen) and there are some Kenyan leaders who can testify to this. After multiple warnings, they continued to defy the President and are now facing the consequences of their petty politics.

Like Icarus, their wings are now clipped and they only have themselves to blame for not listening to all the calls. The purge in the Jubilee Party was long coming and will have even more casualties than we have seen so far.

For months on end, Kenyans have been entertained with endless threats, blackmail, arrogance and pride by a section of politicians that have believed that they are more privileged than others.

Multiple calls by the President for them to focus on work have fallen on deaf ears. Now the President has stated categorically that he will involve himself in what is going on as he prioritises development.

The Jubilee government was given a job to do, which is the transformation of our nation and making the lives of Kenyans better. This cannot be done when there are some quarters within the President’s party that are keen to depict the government as having failed.

Will the government focus on transforming the nation, or recovering from friendly fire? How can the President deliver on his promises while those who were elected on his party ticket are politicking every day?

Leaders aligned to the ruling party must be aligned to the government’s transformation agenda. If there are some that believe otherwise, they should quit their posts and seek a fresh mandate as independent candidates.

Let the lines be clearly drawn, and let everyone state where they stand and whom they support. No more hiding behind the shadows. Allegiances must be clear so that the government can work with those that are willing to move the nation forward.

Growing up we were made to recite the loyalty pledge in primary school. I remember it word for word many years later. I am in no way advocating a return of those days as we witnessed what autocracy can do.

In party politics, loyalty is key, unequivocal and unchallengeable. Without it, anarchy will prevail. Members cannot be loyal to two masters. That is simply impossible.

Look at parties such as the Labour party in the UK where disloyalty will make an elected leader immediately lose party support, and thus lose an elected seat.

Locally, look at a party like ODM. There has never been a point where you have seen any other centre of power emerge other than party leader Raila Odinga. In fact, besides Kanu, ODM is the only other party that has remained intact despite having so many elected leaders, election after election.

When was the last time you heard Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka call for disciplinary action against elected leaders in his party? The answer would be never just like with other parliamentary parties.

This is because unity in political parties, as well as loyalty, is critical for the party to achieve its collective agenda. Jubilee must thus continue with the Senate purge of all disloyal members as well as in the National Assembly.

This is not the time to forgive or give second chances. The party line must be toed. The party must be ruthless with disloyal nominated members who got the chance to be in Parliament because the party had faith in them.