‘Malign Mudavadi’ crusade is substandard and uncalled for

Kenya: In literary criticism, a writer points out the salient layout of an author’s storyline or plot, the style and content. This is weighed against the social, economic and political realities the author attempts to depict and how successful or not that portrayal has been. But this must be strictly within the rules of literary criticism.

So it is in journalism. One must be clear whether one is reporting, analysing, commenting or making an opinion about an event. Quite often, the fault line between these approaches is not obvious to washed-out journalists. If one sets out to analyse an event, they are governed by the rules of fair comment.

But it is becoming obvious that writer Juma Kwayera cares little for such searching intellectual curiosity in his increasingly pedestrian write-ups on Musalia Mudavadi.

When inspired to bludgeon Mudavadi, he oozes bias that can only be attributed to some estrangement that borders on a personal grudge against his target. In an innocent sounding Did Uhuru trip seal Wetangula return? (The Standard on Saturday, December 21, 2013), Juma chooses conjecture for fact.

He waxes lyrical that “Cord’s victory maintained a trend that began in Makueni County…” ignoring a series of recent loses in Makueni County and Nyanza by Cord which he dismisses as “lower rank”. Then he launches into the malice mode of untruth. Because Musikari Kombo lost in Bungoma, Mudavadi “now wears the tag of a serial loser since 2002”. Mudavadi has never lost another election before 2002 and after until the presidential one in March. Therefore when he insults Mudavadi as a “serial looser”, the muck of a contracted propagandist drips out. “Serial loser” is so commonplace that its use should be applied sparingly and be backed with evidence.  Let’s start with his favourite. Raila Odinga has consistently lost presidential elections three times. Mwai Kibaki lost presidential elections three times in a row before clinching it on the fourth try.  Former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka lost his first attempt for a parliamentary seat.

The man Juma has palpable disdain for, President Uhuru Kenyatta, lost the Gatundu seat in 1997 at his entry into elective politics. He would be beaten in the 2002 presidential elections.

However, in Juma’s “malign Mudavadi crusade”, the former Vice-President and Deputy Prime Minister is the only serial loser having lost a parliamentary seat and also the presidency only once each time.

Of course like his peers, he shares the distinction of his preferred candidates losing here and there once in a while. Yet that will not convince a burnout detractor seeking reinvention.

Kibisu Kabatesi, Private and Press Secretary to Musalia Mudavadi, UDF Leader and former Deputy Prime Minister