Ngilu's political mastery serves Jubilee well

Kenya: It is not the revocation of titles for 500,000 acres issued in Lamu County that has generated the current political heat, but the sensational manner in which Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has linked her successor at the Lands docket, James Orengo, to the mess.

The Siaya County Senator is not your ordinary politician. He is a seasoned hand who is a close ally of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and a key player within the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). And the situation doesn’t get better when Ngilu further claims Orengo presided over the mess at Ardhi House, under the watch of Raila.

In so doing, the CS has given the problem at hand a political face. The import of her actions is that the problem is purely a CORD engineered one – executed by a key CORD strategist and loyalist, under the watch of none other than the CORD leader himself.

The merits and demerits of the claims notwithstanding, there is no denying that Ngilu has given the Lamu land question a political angle and tried to exonerate the Jubilee Government from blame, by apportioning the same to the Opposition.

And this line of thought fits aptly with the script of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who from the onset of the Lamu killings two months ago, declined to acknowledge al-Shabaab’s claim for responsibility, insisting instead that the attacks were politically motivated.

Ngilu is a smart and politically loyal minister, and this instance is not any different from previous ones. Under retired President Mwai Kibaki’s first term of office and later under Premier Raila’s side of the coalition in the shared government with Kibaki, Ngilu tactfully combined her ministerial duties with playing politics to the advantage of her side of the coalition.

Political acumen

And President Kenyatta must have been fully aware of these special attributes. When, as Deputy Prime Minister, he surprisingly graced Ngilu’s graduation in October 2012, Uhuru openly wooed Ngilu to join his presidential campaign team saying he needed to benefit from her “political acumen and streak of luck”.

“You have always emerged victor with those you have teamed up with, and we hope this time around you will be on our side,” he said moments after Ngilu had graduated from St Paul’s University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Leadership Management.

Political scientist Adams Oloo says Uhuru knew better. Describing Ngilu as a crafty player and political asset, who strives to win the confidence of her bosses, Oloo observes the CS capitalises on the same to play politics in their favour. Alongside retired President Kibaki and former Vice President, the late Michael Kijana, she was part of the core group that transformed into the larger National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), which formed government in 2002. As Health minister, critics have claimed she escaped with a host of questionable deals, including skewed admissions at Nairobi’s Kenya Medical Training College – thanks to her proximity to the President.

And in the shared Grand Coalition Government, where she served as Water minister, she was accused of confining over 70 per cent of the key projects in her own Ukambani region. Her own Assistant minister, Mwangi Kiunjuri, even presented to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission with details supporting his claim of rampant corruption in the Water ministry.

But the former PM quickly defended Ngilu, who was a member of ODM’s elite Pentagon team, and dismissed reports that she was favouring her Ukambani region in the provision of water services and construction of dams and pans.

Proclaiming her innocence in the face of growing allegations over the matter, Ngilu thanked Raila for defending her and asked President Kibaki to also speak out on her behalf. Then, many viewed Ngilu’s favours to the people of Ukambani as a scheme to win political support for Raila.

No legal case

But Ngilu has since changed allegiance and this time around she is busy putting in a word for the President. And National Assembly Leader of Majority, Aden Duale defends her record at the Water and Health ministries, insisting by the time she was hired for the current job she had no legal case against her.