Governor Alfred Mutua might have been a snake-slayer while growing up in the grazing-fields of Machakos county. But the possibility does not mean ‘His Excellency’ took up snake-catching and killing as a full-blown hobby.
Mutua could have killed snakes for fun when technology was still young, and poverty was rampant. Sports for children were then limited to what was possible in the serenity of the natural environment. Such sport might have been an instinctive response to the natural poetry of the boy-child’s environment.
He might also have been good at multi-tasking. Probably as a herdsboy in the pristine environment of his county, Mutua might have understood the natural rhythm of the jungle. An unusual chirping of birds might have told him there was something disturbing the natural order. Goats suddenly stopping browsing, standing at ease, with their ears askew, might have warned the would-be governor of a breach of security.
The intruder could have been a snake, a leopard or a lion. A snake, if it were, would have been easy to handle -– easier still if it had the habit of invading chicken coops.
You could hit the reptile on the head, cut it up with a shepherd’s machete, or spear it dead. You could also feed it frozen boiled eggs. Stone-hard eggs block the reptile’s digestive system. The snake would then die of indigestion. Which means Mutua knew early, there were, and still are, many ways of killing a rattling snake.
The way the Governor is handling his personalised drama with Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala, sounds like Mutua is trying to relive the skills of his boyhood. And how good he is at it! He does it with the callous glee and zeal of a man who got the knife and the pumpkin.
Mutua is also devolving Machiavellian tactics to humiliate, and even decimate Kiala. Mutua is impeaching his deputy, by instalments, after the Senate failed to fire the man possibly at the Governor’s instigation.
Mutua had to find a reason, sorry, an excuse, to impeach Kiala. By so doing he is completing the business Senate abandoned halfway. The Senate cited lack of evidence, and stopped short of slaying Bwana Kiala.
Mutua would have wanted to get rid of his deputy without soiling his own hands – never mind the lowdown tenor of the vendetta. But the Senate denied Mutua the glee of slaughtering a rival without playing any dirtier than he has.
Now, and this is work in progress, Mutua is personally impeaching his deputy, claiming Kiala politicks too much. That he is incompetent, has questionable political alliances, and exhibits divided loyalty. Mutua is offended his deputy often attends Cord rallies instead of “developing” Machakos.
Mutua also claims to have recently discovered that his running mate was once charged with fraud. Mutua did not know this when he named Kiala his running mate. He did not know until he visited the National Archives recently.
But there is also another excuse, which Mutua has not declared, and probably won’t, for impeaching his deputy now: The politicking deputy governor could be a formidable challenger in 2017. Mutua, therefore, won’t allow his deputy to understudy him at such proximity. He won’t even if it means going into the archives for evidence to malign the deputy governor.
Mutua claims Kiala has nothing to show for the Sh500,000 he earns. He took away Kiala’s county ministerial duties, but retains him to ‘idle’ at the same cost to the taxpayer.
Mutua is dealing with Kiala now when the governor still has the leverage to manipulate public opinion. The governor is humiliating the man – hoping he could annihilate him – without offending Kiala’s constituency.
After demoting his deputy, Mutua recruited a replacement from Masinga, Kiala’s constituency, into the war of attrition. Mutua also conscripted Boniface Kabaka, as a strategy advisor. Kabaka ran against Senator Johnstone Muthama.
By harassing Kiala, Mutua is extending his feud with Muthama, a Wiper financier, and solid supporter of Cord. Mutua suspects Muthama is funding Kiala’s ambition to checkmate the opposition Cord governor, who loves to dine with the ruling Jubilee. By fighting Kiala, Mutua is battling Wiper, the party that sponsored him for the position.
The feud in Machakos, then, goes beyond corruption. Mutua is fighting for his own survival, knowing he has lost Wiper’s support for dining too intimately with Jubilee.
The running conflict between Muthama and Mutua, which has zeroed in on Kiala, is no more about county governance than it is about the Mutua succession.
The writer, a communications consultant, is also a university journalism lecturer.
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