With friends like Malala, Mudavadi should forget the presidency

ODM Raila Odinga with ANC's Musalia Mudavadi during burial service of Mama Rosebella Jerono Mudavadi at Budira village in Vihiga County on December 18, 2021. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala has the word impetuosity written all over him. He is besotted with Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi's presidential quest to the point of becoming irrational and sentimental.

Malala is beating drums of war by purporting to cordon off Kakamega to other presidential aspirants, especially ODm leader Raila Odinga, to protect Mudavadi's presumed Luhya votes. If he paused long enough to reflect on his unfortunate public utterances, they should remind him of the true meaning of myopia.

The senator's hackles have been raised by a call to a Luhya unity meeting at Bukhungu Stadium on December 31. He is not happy that a section of Luhya leaders under Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli want to use the occasion to declare Raila "Tosha" instead of rallying the Luhya vote behind Mudavadi. In retrospect, this is nothing new; not the first and certainly not the last. Malala's obsessive fascination with Raila is progressively snowballing into myriad stumbling blocks in Mudavadi's way to State House.

For not cautioning his attack dogs against invoking the tribal card, Mudavadi risks being projected as an ethnic kingpin. Secondly, Mudavadi's overzealous acolytes are antagonising other voting blocks that could make a positive impact in his presidential quest.

Common sense dictates that even if all Luhya's voted to the last man for Mudavadi, without support from other communities, including the Luos whom Malala derides so much, it would be wasted effort.

If we must all preach Malala's gospel of balkanisation and lockable 'bedrooms', then Mudavadi should be standing sentinel over Vihiga, not Kakamega County, and confine his activities there. Malala should be reminded that other regions have keys to their bedrooms that they, too, can lock to deny his party leader access. The nonsense of political bedrooms has no place in democracies and should be left to yokels.

By declaring other presidential contenders persona non grata in Kakamega, Malala is overtly urging the masses to violence. He is thumbing his nose at the police, National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Above all, he is proclaiming to the whole world how toothless Chapter Six of the Constitution on integrity is. Left to his own devices as we head into the 2022 electioneering period, this man could become a danger to national cohesion. He, and his ilk, must be put on very short leashes.

There has been a clamour for generational change in leadership. Many believe the old guard have been at the helm of power for too long and there is a need for young blood and fresh ideas. Yet, if Malala represents what the Young Turks stand for, then we are better off with the old guard to whom wisdom comes easily.

I stand to be corrected, but Malala has not demonstrated any admirable leadership qualities. That notwithstanding, he has indicated interest in the governorship of Kakamega County. One wonders; how can a man who allows petty feelings to cloud his sense of reason oversee the running of a county government? Ideally, a governor should be grounded in interpersonal and managerial skills, with a touch of politics for seasoning.

Does Malala possess any of these attributes? He is a typical dyed-in-the-wool village politician. In my lexicon, that refers to rabble-rousers who find it a drag to think things through before acting.

Politics is not about enmity; it is about healthy ideological competition, the sale of progressive and workable ideas in which the ultimate winner is the citizen; not the man or woman full of invective and bile, or the one who gets the highest number of votes at the ballot.