Mudavadi is Okay just where he is

Weekly Citizen November 29 - December 5, 2010 (Page 4)

Mudavadi is Okay just where he is

In a scorning piece about the fortunes of Musalia Mudavadi, the Deputy Prime Minister and minister for Local Government, and one of the senior most politicians in Kenya, your writer, Asienwa Bigood went off the mark.

Bigood is mesmerized by raw power. As they say, those who "see" power from a distance, dream of being power itself and not just having it. That is why Bigood, who I hope lives in Kenya and has been witness to the monumental transformation of the country from a virtual dictatorship by Kanu, can afford to be the high priest of nostalgia for the dictatorial tendencies at the height of the Kanu regime in the 1980s. His wish list for the DPM is couched in the language of an agent provocateur, the kind who tells you to step on hot-red nails because there is no visible fire.

But I forgive Bigood because I cannot cure deep-rooted bigotry. But I cannot forgive her/ him for pretending to be a fortune-teller using the mystic to argue a course rather than using facts to make a case. And what is the course Bigood is pursuing? Destabilization of ODM hierarchy.

There is a plot in the works that in order to deal with the ODM political hurricane come 2012; ensure that key lieutenants of the party close to Raila are either besmirched through character assassination with allegations of corruption while at the same time urging them to rebel; or as the Americans say "take them out" politically.

The strategy worked in 'taking out' William Ruto. Now is the turn of Musalia to be hived off. Listen to Bigood; "It is therefore prudent for Musalia to "rattle" the PM..." And what is the basis for urging Musalia to turn into a snake and go for Raila's blood? The Raila-Uhuru candidature propaganda. Maybe Bigood is too good to know that the Raila-Uhuru candidature was a brief scarecrow thrown at the Luhyas, to get them disenchanted enough with ODM. Briefly, and thank God just briefly, the Luhya nation nearly fell for the trick. But the big kill of the Raila-Uhuru gauntlet was to get Uhuru's ratings up, and this they did if opinion polls since then are anything to go by.

I have digressed from my actual point only to tell Bigood unless s/he is an agent of destabilization; the politics of blackmailing the DPM to stage a fight with Raila otherwise he will have no support of the Luhya is not new. It was the same song in 2007 by local Luhya mercenaries now being revived at the national level to dismember the Luhya vote. That is why the Raila-Uhuru candidature is being, funneled and some neophytes from the north of Luhyaland funded ostensibly for the presidency.

I sometimes wonder why anyone who wants any leadership mantle has to start off by lying to the same people from whom respect and votes are expected. In Sabatia, another fifth column of novices following the same blackmail script has emerged; taunting that Musalia is too big for the Sabatia seat! Shamelessly, they are playing to the funeral gallery with senseless lies that Musalia has blessed them.

For those fanning the Raila-Uhuru myth, they ought to know that ODM presidential candidature is contested and Musalia will be there with the rest, even if Uhuru were to inconceivably decamp to ODM. For the sponsored political apprentices in Sabatia, let them carefully read Articles 136 and 137 on election and qualifications of the President under the Constitution. Specifically, I freely advise them to revise Article 137(3) before engaging in a comedy of errors concerning the Sabatia seat.

Back to Bigood, s/he has told many lies. The lie that "A number of Snr. Mudavadi's buddies seat (sic) on the Sabatia CDF committees and handle Musalia's Constituency diary when he is visiting" is utter rubbish which can only be told by a very weird person. The lie that Musalia "has not fought any big political war worth mentioning" must be from the fertile imagination of a Mongolian trying to learn about the 50-year-old Musalia's 21 years in politics. Then there is this foolish cliche that Musalia "must be his own man". Other than an insult by Bigood, what has Musalia been otherwise other than a man?
Lastly, may I solemnly swear that Bigood, Musa Bundamba Mudavadi, your latter-day hero in death, was long dead before the Sabatia Eye Hospital was started by Musalia in 1996. Unless the ghost of Musa is haunting you, you couldn't have told this big lie.

Bigood, juvenile obsession with "our own", that whatever it takes "one of our own" must stand for the presidency whatever the odds and so that your primordial instincts are quenched, may indeed be the made-to-size Achilles Heel that will turn Luhya presidential wannabes into village elders in Kenyan politics of the 21 't Century.

The instinct to try to run before walking, must be sidelined in favour of a strategy of long-haul investing in leadership. Musalia is the man.

By Kibisu-Kabatesi (Hon Musalia's Spokesperson)
Disclaimer: The views in this article are my own and do not reflect the opinion of Hon. Musalia Mudavadi.