Even as he builds alliances at the national level, it is emerging that Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has a delicate political house-keeping to do in his Ukambani backyard.

Intense power struggles within Wiper Democratic Movement pitting parliamentary aspirants and MPs has pushed the VP, who is also party leader, into fire-fighting. Friction between the newcomers and incumbents, for instance, is based on fears that the latter will be handed direct party nominations.

The situation has been complicated by the return of MPs who had initially rebelled against the VP. The vacuum created by their absence was quickly filled by a host of aspirants, who are now said to be crying foul.

A case in point is that of  Yatta MP, Charles Kilonzo, one of Kalonzo’s harshest critics who even held a one-man press conference to disown the rebranded WDM outfit.

Kilonzo is back trying to wrest the leadership of the party from Nairobi businessman, Francis Mwangangi, who was elected Yatta Branch chairman.   

Parallel offices

Other perceived anti-Kalonzo MPs, including Water minister and Narc party leader, Charity Ngilu, Youth Affairs Assistant minister Wavinya Ndeti, Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo, Kitui West MP Charles Nyamai, and Kilome MP Haroun Mwau have either reconciled with the VP or gone quiet.  

Despite Kalonzo’s repeated assurance that the party primaries will be conducted fairly, a host of newcomers, as well as MPs whose loyalty to the VP is in doubt, remain sceptical.

Critics point at ODM-Kenya’s primaries during the last General Election, which they claim were chaotic. Because of this factor, among others, the party failed to secure four seats – Kitui Central, Kitui West, Kilome and Kathiani.     

This time around, however, Machakos Town MP Victor Kioko Munyaka, is convinced the party is committed to a fair exercise: “The fears by newcomers that the VP will side with the incumbents is expected, just in the same way some of us felt in 2007. My opponent, (Daudi) Mwanzia, was particularly close to Kalonzo, but that did not stop me from beating him for the party ticket.”

Impediments

The VP has on several occasions echoed similar sentiments, the latest being on Thursday during a meet-the-people tour in his Mwingi North constituency. He stressed that the Wiper party will not give direct nomination to those aspiring for elective positions.

WDM “is a democratic political party that stands for fair, free and competitive nominations” he said.

The VP said the party would hold parliamentary and national delegates meeting next week to chart the way forward ahead of the General Election.

Other party meetings would be held countrywide to sample the views of members on the future of WDM.

Part of the current challenge, according to some party officials, has got to do with changeover from ODM-Kenya to the revamped WDM. It was reportedly not done smoothly and structurally, thereby giving some political opportunists avenues to take over new offices by rebranding them or opening up parallel ones altogether. 

Dr Munyaka, for instance, has opened a parallel party office in Machakos town separate from the initial ODM-K one.

His opponents see the move as strategic ahead of the upcoming General Election.

However, Mwangangi, who is also WDM coordinator in Machakos County, views the development as positive: “The individual battles aside, what is happening is internal democracy. We are all fighting for a piece of WDM, for there is no doubt we are all united behind him. The only small challenge for us is how to manage the competition in our midst gentlemanly.”

This view is shared by VP’s spokesman, Kaplich Barsito, who says the development disabuses the common notion that Kalonzo is not in firm political control of his Ukambani and Eastern region backyard. 

The situation may be dicey for the VP at the national level, but there is no denying that he has everything going his way at home, with current MPs, new aspirants and former MPs gravitating towards him.

Nonetheless, Munyaka says the VP has other challenges to surmount: “Unfortunately, one of the biggest impediments to his presidential bid has nothing to do with his personal weakness but rather the people’s wrong perception about his capabilities and the media for spreading this false propaganda.”