Kalonzo should dump advisers and heed folk wisdom

Otuma Ongalo

It is back to folk wisdom and I have previously told you tales of the pride and humility of Kamukuywa people. Now, humility and pride are strange bedfellows. You cannot be proud and humble at the same time but trust the Kamukuywans’ resilience in defying odds.

In this land, where live white ants are delicacies eaten straight from anthills, the folks are so humble that you can easily step on their toes but become quite egoistic if you take their perseverance for granted.

When push comes to the shove, they will admonish you with a familiar pose: "Do I eat at your place?" This is a loaded statement and if uttered in your face, you should watch out for nearest safe exit. This expression is familiar in many other societies.

It warns an otherwise egoistic individual that just because he is important and is capable of doing you favours, you don’t have to lie in supplication every time he crosses your path or makes outrageous demands. When push comes to shove, enough is enough.

It is too bad that Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka is not a son of Kamukuywa. The equally humble son of Tseikuru was born in tough terrains but over eons, he has been made malleable by the sun and sands of Tseikuru.

This experience has taught him to be so humble that he would rather be publicly humiliated than face his perceived political benefactors and pose: "Do I eat at your place?"

There is no doubt that the son of Musyoka has been having one of the most challenging moments.

Kalonzo has been having sleepless nights because his erstwhile political soul mates – Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto – have virtually sidelined him in the G7 Alliance.

Never has Kalanzo been so miserable in recent times and he baffles both friends and foes. He has desperately sought to win Uhuru and Ruto’s favour despite clear signs that he is an unwanted baggage in their train.

I don’t want to broach the line that he has been shedding crocodile tears over the woes facing Uhuru and Ruto in International Criminal Court charges or reiterate the claim that he is patiently waiting on the wings to reap from the spoils of their tribulations.

I will leave this to his famed strategy of kupitia katikati yao (and recently, kupitia juu yao) to condemn or vindicate him.

But one thing is for sure and borrowing from folk wisdom, Kalonzo is one person who should face Uhuru and Ruto proudly and pose: "Do I eat at your place?" I do not expect him to have sleepless nights just because there is a threat to leave him out of the G7 bandwagon.

He should not stoop too low to an extent of pleading with Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa to tell Uhuru and Ruto not to forsake him in G7 or even contemplate sacrificing Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo (one of his erstwhile fervent supporters) for him to achieve his presidential ambition. That merely reinforces the belief that the VP is a man who can do anything to fulfil selfish political interests.

Kalonzo has been in politics for a long time and as the country’s second in command, one would expect Ruto and Uhuru to worship at his feet and not the other way round.

When he gleefully abandoned the comfort of his limousine to uncomfortably squeeze himself in Ruto and Uhuru’s vehicle when they arrived from The Hague, he defied another folk wisdom. Folks maintain that it is often the stream that joins the river but now River Kalonzo is desperate to join the stream.

Does Kalonzo have sincere political advisors or he never heeds their counsel? Has anyone told him that yearning for Uhuru and Ruto’s company is a clear testimony that left on his own he is like fish out of water or are the advisors blinded by sycophancy? Just who will save the VP from political immolation?

For Kalonzo to gain Kenyans’ confidence that he has what it takes to be the country’s president, he should first have confidence in himself and this does not come through miracles.