If the political animal in Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko were to be subjected to binomial nomenclature system of naming, it would be a tall order to classify his genus and specie.
For the son of Kivanguli is quite complex - in speech, act, gait and reason. The more one tries to understand him the more they get lost. Those who set out to hate on him end up loving him, and those who love him end up hating him at some point.
From the day he bolted from the blues to win a by-election in Makadara, Sonko has been a study on the evolution of the Kenyan politician. From an MP, to a senator and now governor, there is no stopping for this self-confessed ex-jailbird.
And when he appeared for the Madaraka Day celebrations yesterday in full county askari’s uniform, it was an addition to hordes of public spectacles he has staged in the last one decade of his political life.
His earlier antics of punching walls to drive a point, spotting fake locks and street clad endeared him to the urbane voters he was targeting. His flashy clothing- complete with gold chains and rings tapped into near-cult youth psyche.
But there was always some doubts about the man, his credentials, his past and what he portended. Like a mist, these doubts kept recurring, but he would dissolve them through his many acts of charity and the knack for taking up common causes.
Errand boy
In no time, Sonko blossomed into a juggernaut of sorts that steamrolled the indomitable Evans Kidero out of City Hall. Polycarp Igathe, his impressive running mate was among the many swept on their feet by the complex Sonko effect.
Hoodwinked into a joint ticket to attract the corporate vote, balance the image and bring the money, he was soon to find the wisdom of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that such people like himself only serve to soak up the Kings countenance:
“Such officers do the King best service in the end. He keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed. When he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you and, sponge, you shall be dry again,” Shakespeare says.
Igathe was dropped like a hot potato once victory was delivered. By the time he was smelling the coffee, the Nkubu High School alumni had been reduced to a mere errand boy, even a cheerleader who regaled in texting his immediate boss to announce his presence in a meeting.
“Seated behind you to your left boss. Good to see you here. Igathe” to which Sonko would answer back in monosyllables: “Perfect!”
But it is Sonko’s dramatic life, often on camera, that is as baffling as it is interesting. He no doubt celebrates the far he has come and wastes no time to remind anyone who cares. It is indeed this history which fires him up.
An ardent fan of the ‘hustler-philosophy’, Sonko built for himself an imposing palace atop a hill in Machakos where he retreats whenever it is boiling in Nairobi. For a month in 2018, Sonko ran his government from this hill, citing personal security.
The security claim was somewhat baffling from a man who once showed up for a burial of a friend’s mum in Lang’ata cemetery with dozens of bodyguards wielding machine guns. In between the rigours of City Hall politics, Sonko finds time to play the relationship expert, citing his tortured life.
“No matter what you are going through in your marriage, relationship or life, just love your babes, stick to her, stay together, vumilianeni,” he posted on Facebook recently while attaching old photos of himself and the love of his life, Primrose Mbuvi.
Human side
This special ability to show the human side of himself has also scored a lot. When his daughter reportedly fell pregnant, he wept over it while raining her with a love monologue.
“I love her, she is my daughter and I love her no matter what,” Sonko teared up in an amateur video that went viral.
But his daredevil and bold approach has always exposed the split personality. This includes the incident when he took on his Kiambu counterpart Ferdinand Waititu over unapproved city building, only to turn around and forgive him.
The latest saga involving an alleged grabbed land in Eastlands and his retaliatory act of knocking down a fabricated car bazaar in the heart of the city mirrors the Waititu incident. Again, a recording has surfaced where he seems to agree to condone the alleged wrong doing subject to an agreement with his victim.
“Pato wewe ni rafiki yangu, nilikwambia ukitaka kupiga kitu ukuje unione…”
It is these and many other such acts that feed into the doubts about the man at the helm of the country’s capital city.
