As an outsider, Malala should have picked his fights wisely, speak less

Embattled UDA party Secretary General Cleophas Malala addressing faithful at ACK St Mathews Ituti church at Buture constituency on June 23, 2024. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

He was meant to be the United Democratic Alliance's answer to Edwin Sifuna.

Fresh from a dog's beating in the hands of Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa in the 2022 polls, Cleophas Malala was picked to challenge Sifuna's claim of the limelight.

Having no elective seat meant he had more time to attend TV talk shows, his apparent brief when UDA appointed him its secretary general, and whitewash the Nairobi senator's gains.

As the curtains fell on his brief tenure on Friday despite a last-ditch effort to cling on, it must have dawned on Malala that he had failed. He lost his job like Sifuna gained his - through two coups, the first by a political greenhorn and a subsequent one at the crack of dawn.

Eight years ago, the Chungwa secretary general ousted Ababu Namwamba like Joe Khalende attempted to depose Malala. The only difference was that Sifuna did not end up with cuts on his head, as Ababu was not as connected as Malala in the 'goons' underworld.

But even the former senator knew that matching Sifuna would not be a walk in the park. While he had the decibels to do the job, he would soon learn that there was more to his new role than just eloquence.

He needed an eloquence that cannot be taught after one attained a certain age, so the dimpled man avoided morning talk shows. With that wise decision, the former playwright spared himself an encounter with his then-equal in Raila Odinga's Chungwa party.

Many had assumed that he was not a morning person and preferred the warmth of his blanket. But as he proved on Friday when he showed up in court earlier than the gate-man to save his job, he could be an early riser. He just needs the right kind of motivation. 

Malala would change tack, focusing his assault on a different set of opponents he thought he would subdue with his vocal capabilities - Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang'ula.

The former Kakamega senator took the fight to the pair, challenging them to fold their "village" parties and join UDA. Never mind he had sought the county's governorship through MaDvD's Amani National Congress.

In the pair, Malala had previously found a shoulder to lean on in 2020, when Tinga accused him of kidnapping himself to attract sympathy. He would join MaDvD and Weta in searching for the cliched elusive Luhya unity.

Barely two years later, Malala was earning curses over his abominable demands to have Weta, he of the "inguluding" fame, dissolve his Simba party, for which he has shed blood, sweat and tears and made him earn the name "co-principal".

Tawe! Weta would have none of it and often warned the young man to respect his elders. Malala wouldn't stop, obviously because he merely spoke the language of President William Ruto.

Noticing that there was no reprimand for his bullying of other Kenya Kwanza partners, Malala's head swelled further. Within UDA, he threatened badly-behaved waziris, vowing to expel them if they stuck to their wayward ways. 

But in so doing, he had crossed a red line that he should have easily seen amid all the party's yellow. Malala was always the outsider. He ought to have known that before picking fights with shareholders.

He should have taken the hint when lawmakers, such as Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei and Malala's successor Boni Khalwale, turned on him. Had he done so, he would not be swearing affidavits in the wee hours of the morning, alarming neighbours who must have thought him to be reciting some spell.

The deal-breaker seems to have been his recent dalliance with the 'Tawe Movement', which proposes to overthrow the current leadership of the Mulembe nation. He should have known the coup subject would trigger his bosses, under siege by the youth.