By OKECH KENDO
Charity Ngilu could be a show spoiler or show-stopper depending on where you stand in relation to the crowded presidential pageant. More so on what side of the Prime Minister-Vice-President stake in the Kibaki Succession one is. But Ngilu has always said she is not anyone’s puppet. She is, like other presidential aspirants, a victim of ambition. President Kibaki’s imminent retirement has triggered these ambitions.
Ngilu thinks of herself as a showstopper because she brings clarity to issues, which other presidential aspirants have downplayed. And she does so in a way that exposes the vitriol so far spewed as presidential campaign platforms.
She rejects being a show spoiler because you cannot spoil for losers, whose campaign plunks are vendetta, spite, and malice. For her the losers are not down on numbers yet. They are pushed down by the pettiness of their campaigns. They have nothing to offer other than prejudice, turf of tribal jingo, and deep pockets.
Some of these pockets have been enriched by proceeds of impunity, running across regimes. On the eve of the Year of the Jubilee, Ngilu says Kenyans should reject agents of the status quo.
There was a time when Ngilu criticised Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, the conclusion would be she was doing so at the behest of Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The Prime Minister was supposed to have assigned Ngilu the duty of making Kalonzo’s presidential bid untenable in his own backward.
The VP personally asked his supporters during the 2007 General Election to “teach” this stubborn sister a lesson. They were supposed to tell Ngilu that there can only be one cock in the homestead and Ngilu wasn’t the one. The lesson backfired when Ngilu survived the Wiper onslaught. Now she is back, elegant, ‘degreed’, belligerent, and spoiling for a fight.
A Kalonzo checkmate for the PM she could have been, but there is much more to Ngilu. There is more to the woman who gave colour, passion, and poise to the 1997 presidential race. The race was then, as now, dominated by machismo oozing men, with sexist prejudice about women’s leadership.
Political enigma?
These men thought Ngilu was, and still is, overprizing her stock.
Across two regimes, Ngilu has evolved into a political enigma. She defied the Wiper wave in 2007 to win the Kitui Central parliamentary seat on a Narc ticket. Working with ODM, a party associated with Raila, reinforced the perception she is on duty for the PM, who is Kalonzo’s rival in the Kibaki Succession race.
But Ngilu was rough and tough on Kalonzo long before she worked with ODM, through Narc, as a member of the Pentagon.
Ngilu has also been rough on others as well. She evicted George Ndoto, a minister and an established Kanu man from Kitui Central in 1992. Mr Ndoto has never recovered from the Charity sweep. Then, the Kanu establishment in Ukambani was impenetrable, with Kamba luminaries like the late Mulu Mutisya, and General Jackson Mulinge on sentry.
Ngilu also fled with Narc in 2007 to the dismay of President Kibaki, who thought he owned the Rainbow party. By so doing Ngilu was making a point beyond Kalonzo: She is restless and impatient with anyone, or anything, that undermines her ambition.
Only weeks after Kamba elders endorsed the VP for president, Ngilu also minted her own elders to bless her presidential bid. Whether the Kalonzo elders and the Ngilu lot are the same is not the issue.
No presidential aspirant can claim ownership of elders. There are always many in any community to go round. Superiority of age has nothing to do with being an elder. Remember, Kamlesh Pattni of Goldenberg notoriety claimed eldership to win audience with Muammar Gaddafi, the late president of Libya. Gaddafi was then calling himself the ‘King of Kings’, or Africa’s Malik Maluk.
Ngilu’s entry into the presidential race, whether orchestrated or inspired, is a welcome addition to the pageant. That she brings along issues is even better news. For this race should not be about who is taking whom to The Hague, who is young, and who is youth-less; or who should be locked out of State House, through gangs of the like-minded.
The best alliance, as Ngilu declares, is a partnership with the electorate. Not just from ‘our tribe’, but with Kenyans who are tired of being tired of generic campaigns, parties, and business as usual.
With the General Election just six months away, voters are advised to raise the bar for the presidential contest. By locating a five-point-plank for her bid, Ngilu has set the tone. Child mortality, healthcare, wealth creation, women’s empowerment, and food security rank high in her agenda.
She may be a latecomer to the presidential pageant, but Ngilu knows the worm of pettiness has eaten some of the early arrivals.
They danced so vigorously ahead of the party, and now they are gasping for breath. Some, like the VP, shall have to return to the drawing board, assuming no one’s stolen it.
The Ngilu issues are real, and should resonate with voters, who want issue-based campaigns.
The game can only get more exciting with another dish added to the presidential menu.
The writer is The Standard’s Managing Editor Quality and Production.
kendo@standardmedia.co.ke
