By MARK AGUTU magutu@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Saturday, February 26 2011 at 21:00
In Summary
- I have the capacity to run for any position in this country including that of President, says Tourism minister Najib Balala
Soon after President Kibaki addressed the nation on the steps of KICC entrance withdrawing the controversial nominations to four key constitutional offices, an unusual guest rushed to shake hands with the Head of State. It was ODM Pentagon member and Cabinet minister Najib Balala.
The erstwhile staunch ally of Prime Minister Raila Odinga has joined another ODM Pentagon member William Ruto in dining with former PNU rivals.
From his perch in the Pentagon – once the revered top decision-making organ – Mr Balala has gradually slipped away from the centre of power at the Orange party and is lately a serial absentee at party functions.
But it is his absence at two major rallies organised for Mr Odinga at the historic Tononoka grounds in his Mvita backyard that got tongues wagging, increasingly persuading doubting Thomases that it was no longer business as usual between the minister and his party.
In an interview with the Sunday Nation, Mr Balala spoke about his presence at the Kibaki press conference.
“I never attended the press conference as a member of PNU. I was there because my presence was required as a national leader and – in my capacity as a minister – an adviser to the President,” Mr Balala said.
The future
But this explanation notwithstanding, and if comments from party leaders are anything to go by, ODM could as well be mulling a future without Mr Balala.
Addressing last Sunday’s rally attended by Mr Odinga and a host of other party leaders from across the country, Mombasa Mayor Ahmed Mohdhar let the cat out when he declared that a line-up had been drawn for the party leadership in Mvita and whoever was absent should not consider himself part of the team.
And when he stood to convey messages from other party leaders who did not attend the rally, Mr Musalia Mudavadi gave a list of leaders, including Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and Charity Ngilu.
But in a candid interview, Mr Balala maintains he is in ODM – a party he says he helped found and the position regarding his membership has not changed.
“If you remember well, I am the one who announced the formation of ODM in Kisumu. My membership number is 0001, ahead even of Raila Odinga. So nobody has the right to remove me from the party. Only the people of Mvita can decide that,” he said.
But pressed to give a reason for his low profile in party matters, including shunning rallies organised by his party in his own constituency, Mr Balala said: “It is good sometimes to lie low and see how things unfold. I don’t take ODM for granted. I take it as an institution.”
Apparently, Mr Balala’s beef with the ODM top brass is because of what he views as a personality culture pervading the party, denying it the institutional mien he would have wanted to see.
And it is on this that Mr Balala blames the collapse of the Pentagon – the party’s top decision making organ that brought together himself, Mr Odinga, Mr Mudavadi, Mr Ruto, Mrs Ngilu and Mr Joseph Nyagah.
“The Pentagon was disbanded because it was viewed as a threat. We turned the party into personal property,” he said.
That Mr Balala is increasingly becoming isolated is subject to debate but he assures those who think he is “a lone ranger” that he is in good company.
“I have a lot of people I am working with very closely; among them are my colleagues in Parliament. If they take it that by this I am a lone ranger, so be it,” he said.
However, he maintains that one can only team up with others if there is something that glues them together.
“You can only be a team players if you have common goals. We would have been better off if we held onto each other and not flexing muscles,” he said.
By virtue of his Cabinet post, Mr Balala remains one of the top politicians from the region in national politics. Other Cabinet ministers from the region are Ali Chirau Mwakwere (Trade) and Naomi Shaaban (Gender and Youth).
But as political realignments start to take shape ahead of the 2012 General Election, which will usher in a new political dispensation, key of which is a devolved form of government, Mr Balala will be walking a tightrope as he returns to the drawing board.
During the Tononoka rally, assistant minister Ramadhan Kajembe declared that he would be gunning for the Senate seat as his Kisauni counterpart, Ali Hassan Joho, said he would go for governor’s post in Mombasa County.
But Mr Balala says he is not bothered by what others were doing as he, too, had his own grand plans.
“I have the capacity to run for any position in this country including that of President. But it is not about what I want but what the people want,’’ he said.
He said that his development record in Mvita spoke for itself.
“Anyone doubting this should come to my constituency and see for himself what I have done for the people,” the minister said.
But even as Mr Balala boasted about his achievements, his rival in Mvita, Mr Abdulswamad Sheriff, tore into the minister’s political modus operandi.
Understandable, because Mr Sheriff, a leading Mombasa businessman, is also the son former Coast political kingpin Shariff Nassir, whose career Mr Balala neutered in 2002. Mr Sheriff is now spoiling for a duel with Mr Balala.
“The problem with Mr Balala is that he is aloof and has forgotten there are people down here. He is not in touch with the people of Mvita to know what they really need,” Mr Sheriff told the Sunday Nation.
Political loyalty
He described the minister as a ruler and not a leader and accused him of keeping people guessing about his political loyalties and betraying his Mvita constituents who expected him to work with the ODM party leadership to articulate their interests.
Mr Balala said: “Life is not just about politics. We promised to deliver government to the people not people to the government. I am not in the business of delivering people to public rallies. I am busy delivering services to the people,” he said.
The election of Mr Balala as the MP for Mvita in 2002 marked a political milestone.
Death knell
He not only dislodged Mzee Shariff Nassir, he of the Kanu itatawala milele, wapende wasipende (Kanu will rule forever, whether they like it or) fame, but in so doing, sounded the death knell for the then immensely powerful independence party Kanu in Coast politics.
Only a few years earlier, Mr Balala had cut his political teeth when he was nominated as a councillor and later elected Mayor of Mombasa, a duty he discharged with aplomb and exuberance, earning himself and Mombasa town lots of acclaim.
Mr Balala was re-elected Mvita MP in 2007 on an ODM ticket.
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