Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba addresses journalists within Parliament on February 26, 2015. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba’s political game plan is one that friends and foes are struggling to comprehend.
As ODM secretary-general, he has been blowing hot and cold. He claimed last week that some people wanted to unseat him from the position.
Mr Namwamba was on Saturday unreachable as he did not answer his phone but while speaking to his constituents early this week, he dared those eyeing the post to prepare for a tough battle.
“We are not visitors in ODM. We are majority shareholders. Don’t think you can treat us as if we are guests. This is our party and we are not going anywhere. We are in ODM to stay,” Mr Namwamba, who was speaking at Mundere Primary School in his constituency, said.
On the other hand, he has been leading a campaign for the elusive Luhya unity. At Cord and ODM rallies, he remains a strong critic of Jubilee.
Privately, he has been accused of cosying up to Jubilee through his actions and utterances.
UNPREDICTABLE
Two weeks ago, he was among MPs who visited President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House ostensibly to discuss the bailout for the struggling Mumias Sugar. He later accompanied the President and Deputy President William Ruto to Kakamega for the issuing of a Sh1 billion bailout fund.
Because of his unpredictability, ODM leader Raila Odinga is said to have told his troops to avoid engaging in public altercations with him.
A senior ODM official said Mr Odinga had warned them to leave Mr Namwamba alone so as not to lend credibility to his statements concerning his position in the party.
“That is a hot potato. The big man [Mr Odinga] has cautioned us against giving comments about him so as to create an impression that there is an internal fight within ODM. He wants to let him run his cycle,” the ODM official, who requested anonymity, said.
Those close to Mr Namwamba say that he is keen to chart a new political path away from ODM where he has had a brush with some of its members in the recent past.
It is understood that the two-time legislator has a tacit agreement with Jubilee to lead a western front for a possible coalition ahead of the 2017 General Election. Mr Namwamba has told some of his close friends that he is being frustrated in ODM, including being branded a Jubilee mole yet there are other parties willing to accommodate him.
But he has dismissed politicians who have labelled him “a Jubilee mole.”
“It doesn’t mean that when you are in ODM you are not supposed to cooperate with leaders in other political parties,” he said.
“Opposition leader Raila Odinga embraced President Uhuru Kenyatta when they met in a function in Kisumu. Does it mean that he is also a mole in ODM? If that is the case, then everybody in ODM is a mole,” said an agitated Namwamba.
As if to prove to his critics that he will continue cooperating with Jubilee, he also announced that he had invited President Kenyatta this month to Budalang’i to lay the foundation stone for the construction of a bridge.
Even after being handed the ODM secretary general’s position, Mr Namwamba is understood to have silently told people close to him that he is done with ODM and is keen at creating a united Luhya front ahead of the 2017 General Election.
But Nambale MP Sakwa Bunyasi dispelled reports that the Budalang’i MP had created the group as a platform for negotiating for power with Jubilee.
“He is just on one of the members,” Mr Bunyasi said.
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Ababu-Namwamba-ODM-Secretary-General/-/1064/2775730/-/qde5woz/-/index.html
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