Sunday, February 5, 2012

Mudavadi's options in world of hyenas


Kipkoech Tanui

This analogy from the 8th Parliament does not in anyway suggest Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi is today again sitting between ravenous political hyenas.
In fact he could be the political hyena himself, and so can’t be harmed by the company he chooses. The one to pity is the lamb that seeks the company of hyenas, for the era when a lioness adopted an Oryx is long gone.
So we first have to establish if he is the hyena or lamb, something we shall come to later.
Too stiff
Now here is the story from the 8th Parliament when retired President Moi picked Mudavadi to take over from Prof George Saitoti as Finance minister.
One day in Parliament, Mudavadi was seated next to Saitoti — the man who is as stiff as an electricity pole, unemotional as a wooden table, as unsmiling as a hungry cat, and as mean as the proverbial church mouse.
Then in comes Mr Nicholas Biwott, who was then the most dreaded minister, considered the most powerful man outside State House. He walked and sat next to Mudavadi, making him the man at the centre.
Now Mr James Orengo, who unbelievably is today the Lands minister, but who was then considered something close to a fly on the coat label of Kanu’s bigwigs, was on the floor contributing to a motion of adjournment. Being the cheeky and hilarious politician he was, Orengo ‘advised’ Mudavadi that if he was going to succeed in Treasury he must not sit between two hyenas.
The analogy was too direct to miss, and the fury of Saitoti and Biwott showed they too had not missed the hidden meaning. They demanded that Orengo substantiates or apologises.
One member argued: "This is a House where honourable members sit, not hyenas".
Finally, after pressure from the Chair, Orengo decided to withdraw the remark, "and apologise to all the hyenas in this August House". He then walked out before the Speaker could throw him out.
Now, because I do not believe Saitoti and Biwott were the hyenas Orengo purported them to be, and knowing that the Lands minister could never be objective when it comes to these two, I would not even delve into probable reasons why he called them so.
I just remember with a tickle in my heart how Orengo later, in trying to show Saitoti he was not Moi’s preferred successor, said the professor of Statistics was the ‘Heir Presumptive’ and Total Man the ‘Heir Apparent’.
See, by then no one saw Mr Uhuru Kenyatta coming, and when he surfaced as Moi’s preferred successor, it seemed like he fell from the blue.
That is the time Mudavadi was at a political crossroads he is in today. As Kanu’s Titanic sunk, he fled to Railways Club, leaving behind Mr William Ruto, among others, with Mzee Moi. Among the first to flee was of course Mr Raila Odinga, who to date some claim went into Kanu to break it, and then take off.
The imaginative ones even say the Jogoo swallowed his NDP tractor before switching off the engines, and so it became the laxative that sent the Cockerel spewing what was inside it all over.
Biwott remained until after 2002 elections when his bid to take over Kanu failed and he formed his own party, New Kanu and later, National Vision Party (NVP), which to me seems to imply he is Not Vice President, as some claimed then Saitoti was the figurehead, but he was the de facto Moi assistant.
But three other Kanu damu politicians took off with Musalia — Mr Joseph Kamotho and, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka (who unbelievably says he was cheated out of Presidency when Moi gave Uhuru his nod) and of course Saitoti.
Ticket to obscurity
However, a week after he had crossed the footpath to Railways Club, which was the Rainbow Coalition’s reception ground, Mudavadi swallowed the bait, came back to Kanu, got the VP seat for about three months, before the people of Sabatia gave him a ticket into obscurity. So harsh was their verdict that he did not even accept the offer of Kanu’s nomination to Parliament, which another Jogoo hawk, Mr Mutula Kilonzo gladly accepted.
Today, years later, and after another election which found him back in Tinga’s bosom, cleaned and refreshed from the odour of defeat in 2002, Mudavadi is in Cabinet, and torn between three forces.
He could either stick to Raila and fight with him for the ODM presidential ticket, or do a Kalonzo and go it alone (which is hard because Mudavadi has never formed a party of his own).
The third option is to respond to the message of ogling from the eyes of Ruto and Uhuru, who have since moved on.
This has its inherent risks, like being dumped after he has been separated from Raila, but still there is the steaming offer of a ‘compromise’ candidate on the table, which is based on only one thing; if Uhuru and Ruto choose not to run.
But what will be his place in the G-7 Alliance should the court decide at the Appeal stage to let off either Uhuru or Ruto, or even both?
Inside ODM, Mudavadi may be the lamb sandwiched by hyenas, but outside it, he could be wandering in the hyena’s hunting ground.
But again, is he as innocent as a lamb? You be the judge.
The writer is Managing Editor, Daily Editions, at The Standard.
ktanui@standardmedia.co.ke

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