The formation of a new political alliance by three governors to challenge Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka's dominance in Ukambani has started ripples in the region's politics.
This signals the beginning of a confrontation that is likely to be long-drawn ahead of the 2022 General Election.
Governors Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) are serving their second and final terms. While Dr Mutua has declared an interest in running for president in 2022, the online community has been piling pressure on Prof Kibwana to join the race.
The two have teamed up with Kitui's Charity Ngilu, a first-term governor but veteran politician who was the first woman to vie for the presidency in 1997. There is no love lost between Mrs Ngilu and Kalonzo. Their long-running political feud has characterised Ukambani politics. Ngilu's teaming up with the other two governors makes opposition against Kalonzo more formidable.
Kalonzo has been considered the region's supremo since he first ran for the presidency in 2007. President Mwai Kibaki appointed him vice president at a time the country was plunged in chaos after Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga disputed the outcome of the presidential vote.
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Running mate
In 2013 and 2017, when Kalonzo served as Raila's running mate in their unsuccessful presidential bids, the Wiper leader managed to rally the region behind the Opposition and ensured his party won the most seats in both parliamentary and civic seats.
But Kalonzo now faces arguably the most serious test to his influence from the three governors at a time he no longer enjoys the supremacy of being number two in the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa), which has all but crumbled. The handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta further eroded the influence Kalonzo would have wielded were the opposition alliance still intact.
By announcing the formation of the People’s Empowerment Movement, the three governors have all but declared an all-out war with Kalonzo at a time he needs to consolidate his support base if he is to mount a serious bid for the presidency in 2022.
The three governors have accused Kalonzo of attempting to destabilise their administrations by instigating a rebellion from the Wiper Party members of their county assemblies (MCAs), who are the majority in the region.
Yesterday, Mutua continued with marathon TV interviews to market the new alliance, accusing Kalonzo of being behind the battles in the assemblies in the region.
“The Wiper leadership is hypocritical. Wiper MCAs have been destabilising the three Ukambani counties on instructions from Kalonzo. This is what we will not accept anymore,” Mutua said during an interview with a local TV station.
Under siege from hostile Wiper MCAs on budgetary allocations, Ngilu has threatened to precipitate the dissolution of the county government to force a fresh election.
"The MCAs have refused to allocate money to development projects in critical sectors including health and water, but demand to be taken for tours in Mombasa and elsewhere to satisfy their pleasures. I will not succumb to pressure from them," Ngilu vowed recently.
The MCAs dismissed the threat.
Fresh mandate
“We wish to tell the governor she is late on her threat to dissolve of the county. Fresh mandate from musangi (ordinary voter) could also be an opportunity to get a new governor whose agenda is to act in a manner that will ensure the lives of Kitui people improve,” responded Peter Kilonzo, the Wiper Party majority leader in the Kitui County Assembly.
Senator Enoch Wambua (Wiper) has escalated the standoff, writing an open letter to Ngilu, urging her to do more to eliminate what he described as rampant corruption within the ranks of her administration.
In his first term, Kibwana, who had been elected on a Muungano party ticket, faced off with hostile MCAs, almost leading to the dissolution of the county.
In February 2017, Kibwana's Muungano party and Kalonzo's Wiper signed a pre-election pact that was seen as a way of helping Kalonzo's chances of becoming the National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate.
In the pact, Kibwana sought re-election on a Wiper Party ticket.
“The ongoing negotiations for the Nasa presidential candidate have reached a level where I need the backing of respected individuals such as Prof Kibwana," Kalonzo said. In exchange, Kibwana was installed as Wiper Party chairman and went ahead to successfully defend his seat.
But it has been a short-lived dalliance with Kibwana, who is now locked in a bitter war of words with Kalonzo and his allies.
Such is the acrimony that Kibwana has told Kalonzo's allies, including Mwingi Central MP Gideon Mulyungi and former Machakos senator Johnstone Muthama, to keep off Makueni County politics.
"I am aware that Muthama and Mulyungi met the people who used to derail us so that they can organise anti-Kibwana campaigns in Makueni because I am not supporting Kalonzo. Let them be warned; Makueni is not anyone's political play ground,” Kibwana said recently.
On Sunday, Muthama vowed to launch a massive campaign to defend Kalonzo.
“Now that the three governors have taken the tiger by the tail, I will come out and brandish my flywhisk to sell Kalonzo as the only legitimate presidential candidate in Ukambani,” Mr Muthama declared.
He claimed the three governors were all beneficiaries of Kalonzo’s political mentorship and were therefore out of order to antagonise him politically.
“They (governors) have no political clout to command the region and have no political goodwill to hunt for votes in the national arena,” Muthama claimed.
The three governors have packaged their movement as one focusing on developing Ukambani region, interpreted as a jibe at Kalonzo whose development record they have questioned despite his long stint in government.
The governors say the main agenda for the movement, which will be formally launched next month, will be to fight poverty and generate wealth in the region.
Mutua said the movement will promote economic welfare of the residents of the three counties, even as he dismissed claims that it was political.
“We want to fight for the economic welfare of our people and also fight poverty by engaging in economic activities that help our people. We are looking at galvanising the resources in three counties for the benefit of those we lead,” argued Mutua in an interview with another TV station on Sunday night.
The governor claimed that Ukambani region has over the years been led by leaders who "worked hard to ensure that the residents remained wretched and poor”.
“They did this because it is always easier to control a poor person. As governors of the three counties, we want to change this narrative and change things. Our people should not look at poverty as normal,” Mutua said.
New leader
The governor argued that the community needed a new leader, and that Kalonzo had failed to steer it in the right direction despite being considered as the regional kingpin for decades.
He said the three governors held no personal vendetta against the former vice president, and that all they were questioning was his capacity to lead and his development record.
“We can't run away from the succession issue. There needs to be a change of guard as it does not make sense for him to remain a kingpin for poor people,” Mutua argued.
Mutua briefly attended an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Governors at a Nairobi hotel, then appeared shortly afterwards on another TV station for yet another interview.
“Our cooperation and development work will go a long way in transforming Ukambani region and Kenya forever,” he said.
According to Ngilu, the alliance's social economic development pillar would provide an avenue for job creation and empowerment for the high number of jobless youth in the region.
Kibwana said emphasis would be directed to strengthening the newly revived South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc (SEKEB).
“It is open to all leaders and will ease inter-county trade," he said.
