Why Kalonzo should stop endearing himself to 'Murima'

 

Kamba elders Savi Mutuku, Peter Nzambu and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka during Kamba Cultural Festival at Coast Gymkana in Mombasa on August 31, 2024. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

As the country follows closely the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, whose motivation I spelt out in this column last week, I beg to move on with Mount Kenya politics of the future because, as James Buchanan would say, “I like the noise of democracy.”

Today, I advise Kalonzo Musyoka to step back in his bid to forage Mount Kenya’s vote for his 2027 bid. It was Nelson Mandela who said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

If Kalonzo wants Mount Kenya’s support in 2027, he must likewise ‘talk to them in the language they understand’. It doesn’t mean that the Wiper leader should learn the Gikuyu language. He must understand the ways of the ‘Murima’ people and how they bestow leadership. They follow a leader chosen and presented to them—they do not follow whoever endears themself to them.

This concept is familiar and can be found in their lore. For example, a veteran gospel singer Mama Julia Lucy Mwaura’s song ‘Mutongoria oimaga na iguru’ (A leader comes from above) is a song Kalonzo should hire a decipherer and meditate upon its concept and setting.

This singer from Gitura, Murang’a, asks, “Who is that anointed one so that he can be brought before people so that they know that leadership has been bestowed upon him?”

So, the concept is that a leader who feels s/he is anointed is brought to the people—he does not go to the people. Simple!

In other words, a leader is found by the people. It aligns with ancient Jewish wisdom that people tend to love the one they chose rather than the one who chose them. As such, people love the leader they seek rather than the one who presents himself or herself to them.

This concept is also found in a book titled “Business secrets from the Bible” by Daniel Lapin, an American Rabbi of Orthodox Judaism. If Daniel Lapin were writing about politics, the book’s title could have been “Politics secrets from the Bible.”

Secret nine from Lapin’s book says, “We love the people we help more than we love those who help us.” In politics, leaders who impose themselves on people are hated, and people only love leaders they decide to elect—whether the leader turns sour on them later is neither here nor there.

It is the same wisdom that the veteran singer Julia Lucy amplified when she sang that a leader destined to lead would be presented before the people, and they would know that he has been chosen. So, if Kalonzo has been selected (anointed), he will be presented before the Murima people.

There is another mistake that Kalonzo is committing. He is presumably banking on the deputy president. This will come out clearly if Gachagua’s impeachment goes through. However, Kalonzo should steer away from Gachagua because the interests of is impeachment are complex and complicated.

Weaved in Gachagua’s impeachment motion is a conceptual framework that works against Kalonzo’s hope for support from the Mount Kenya region. He is being used to tease Ruto that ‘Murima’ can decide to redirect their votes to Kalonzo in 2027 should he have his deputy impeached.

Last week, this column suggested that after the impeachment saga, Kalonzo will be deflated from the top of Mount Kenya that he allowed his people to lead a motion against a son from “Murima”. That’s why James Buchanan says, “I like the noise of democracy.”

What, then, is our advice to Kalonzo? He should sit down, observe the political tides, create scarcity, and allow Kenyans to hunger for an alternative leader. His political gaze should be far away from the Mount Kenya region.

Dr Ndonye is a senior lecturer at Kabarak University’s Department of Mass Communication