AJUOK: The true value of Junet Mohamed in a Raila presidency

Everyone knows by now that among opponents of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the presidency, the entire blueprint to defeat him was premised on him supposedly being unelectable in Central Kenya.

Whether it is UDA’s hustler nation or the confused OKA, their calculation appeared to have been that President Uhuru Kenyatta was “playing” Raila and would betray him before the next poll, or that even if in the unlikely event, the President endorsed the ODM boss, Central Kenya would reject him.

For this reason, and following what looks like the entire script going up in smoke, the UDA and OKA brigades have kept political magnifying glasses, microscopes and super microphones on the Raila campaign, trying to pick up anything that can be used to perpetuate the old narratives of a Raila monster among Kikuyu masses.

You can tell by how they frothed in the mouths when Suna East MP Junet Mohamed unleashed an innocent, if ill-advised, joke at a recent bash hosted by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i in Kisii.

If Junet saying that “the coming presidency will be for Nyanza people and you CS Mutahi Kagwe will be coming here as our visitor” was as bad as made to sound, it would have been CS Kagwe who would have taken offence.

He spoke immediately after, and clearly understood it had all been in jest.

Thank providence that the joke had emanated from a non-Luo MP at a function in Kisii.

If that had been a Luo politician in Kisumu, the world would be going Code Red on a potential World War III. But even colleagues in Parliament who wanted to twist the words such as Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua, know quite well that if anyone was to be the “vessel” of a Luo supremacy agenda around Raila, it wouldn’t be Junet.

In fact, the Suna East legislator is a true representation of the best of Luo sociopolitical conditioning, being a man of Somali extract elected deep in Luo heartland.

There is, however, a bigger, more interesting picture in all of this. In many ways, Junet has emerged as the permanent fixture around Raila, and we can presume that if the ODM chief gets elected, he would be what we perceive as the power behind the throne.

If that were to happen, it would actually be the first time in the country’s post-independence history for this unofficial title to be held by someone who doesn’t share the President’s vernacular.

I have a big problem with presidential right hand men (there are hardly ever women) being people from the next ridge from the President’s village.

Books have been written, and tonnes of analytical articles have been churned out, about the exploits of people such as Mbiyu Koinange, Nicholas Biwott, Chris Murungaru and other powerful people within the three presidencies preceding Uhuru’s.

There are very few positives to draw from these stories. In fact, the overriding vibe is that these people created exclusive clubs from where their word was law and the law was an inward-looking tribal enterprise where the rest of humanity was locked out totally.

The president is human. So of course when his worldview is shaped by people constantly around him, who see everything from their shared ancestry, the regime itself ends up being seen as such.

I am certain that stories around these tribal cabals sometimes revolve around heroes of the tribe who fought other communities for land and cattle, punctuated by exaggerated laughter, and washed down with liquids that the local pastor frowns on.

We do not want another version of that in 2022, which is why we must truly be grateful that the person who appears set to take up the role of regime powerman is not a Luo-speaking court jester from the next village after Opoda Farm!

It is interesting that it was the UDA folks who were loudest in accusing Junet of running segregation plan in a potential Raila presidency. In an ideal world, they would have remembered the tribulations of one Kevin Okwara, who, even after securing the Jubilee ticket for the Turbo parliamentary seat in 2017, found that local Jubilee supporters preferred their tribeswoman running as an independent.

They may have forgotten the Moi University controversy just a few years ago, when local leaders rejected Prof Laban Ayiro as the vice chancellor, demanding that one of their own be appointed.

Then there is the “we are profiling you speech” by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, or the more recent outburst directed at former MP Stephen Tarus by Kaseret MP Oscar Sudi, about respecting their leader and never speaking up against him.

If UDA adherents were looking for signs of a future dangerous tribal agenda within a presidency, they had enough examples within their party, without having to bother misinterpreting Junet’s words.

It turns out hypocrisy has a place of pride in their formation. I do not speak for Junet, but I have heard that majority of MPs find him an effective bridge builder as Minority Whip, a role that requires one to persuade both sides of the parliamentary divide to support their agenda.

I am sure too that if you ask them privately, a Raila presidency would benefit from the cosmopolitan face of palace courtiers with networks across board, and who even minority tribes feel may just be their way into the center.

The second Uhuru term has been a starting point on this, with no clear, exclusive, one-tribe power systems. Which perhaps explains why the President can easily back Raila without some powerful people in a night meeting of political owls on the mountain overruling it.

A Raila presidency will probably have a large number of such people, given the prominent role already played by senior ODM officials such as deputy party leaders Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya.

Nine months is a long time of campaigns yet to come. There will be many verbal gaffes and the usual foot in mouth disease endemic to politicians. If you are looking for bad ones, and good ones, they are already known long before they open their mouths to speak. Watch out especially for those who want to turn others into what they are, by picking words out of context because the tribal arithmetic is failing.

As for our elephant in the room today, now that no known Luo politician has emerged as the power behind a potential Raila throne, we should be grateful that the Suna East MP fills that gap.

He won’t be going to State House to chew Dholuo proverbs and sayings with the president, which may seem like the typical “thank God for small mercies”, but good inter-tribal relations in any regime begin when such cosmopolitan faces are the power wielders.