Kituyi pulls a surprise with political odyssey

By ISAAC ONGIRI

The dispute between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy Musalia Mudavadi in ODM has resulted in the political rebirth of former Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi.

The former MP for Kimilili was bludgeoned out of the political limelight by voters in the last General Election, and has been inactive for sometime.

But in the last two weeks, Kituyi has resurfaced, making surprising moves as he engages in high voltage political activities.

When the political battle between Raila and Mudavadi was climaxing last week, Kituyi shuttled within the corridors of offices of the two former allies in a move that signalled he was playing some role.

Kituyi is a well-known political mobiliser and strategist, who featured prominently in the Kibaki campaigns of 2002, which made him emerge as an ally of the President against the wishes of key forces in Western Province.

On Monday, Kituyi is said to have organised a meeting between Mudavadi and Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth, exposing his power broking role that could return him to mainstream politics.

But now what is raising questions is what Kituyi’s mission at the PM’s office on Thursday last week was, and why he quickly rushed to meet Mudavadi shortly after and then went ahead to co-ordinate a telling political meeting between the DPM, Kenneth, and Mvita MP Najib Balala, who has fallen out with Raila.

The former lawmaker is said to have been planning another major meeting with Narc leader Charity Ngilu, who flew abroad before the plans materialised.

Kituyi declined to give details of his current political mission and reason for his political overtures.

"I will not give details for now, but I invite you to keep watching since a lot is at stake," the former MP told The Standard On Sunday.

He further said there should be no political speculation on his visit to Raila and Mudavadi, describing the two as close friends.

Shuttling across

A source revealed the PM wanted to open up links with Kituyi in an attempt to bring together the surviving pro-reform forces of the 1990s to build his own campaign, but was surprised the former minister is shuttling across the political divide on an undefined mission.

Kituyi, a political scientist, is remembered for his pro-reform campaigns during the clamour for multi-party politics in the 1990s where he was among youthful politicians who put Kanu on its toes.

But Assistant Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Alfred Khangati described the former minister as a busy body walking left and right to channel his own political direction with the sole mission of politically salvaging himself.

"People like Mukhisa Kituyi who are now busy walking up and down are just out to find themselves some space to salvage their political fortunes," Khangati claimed.

And the Director of Communication at the PM’s campaign secretariat Barack Muluka described Kituyi as respected Kenyan leader with every right to meet any leader he so wished.

"We do not know what his mission is but when he requested to have a word with PM, nobody would want to block him from doing so any time," Muluka said.

A Bungoma politician Majimbo Kalasinga sees Kituyi’s recent political activities as aimed at undermining Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa with the belief euphoria would be created to dampen the Saboti MP’s political standing among the Bukusu. Kalasinga describes Kituyi as a politician who would stop at nothing that would hurt Wamalwa and nominated MP Musikari Kombo.

"We noted that after Wamalwa’s recent appointment as Justice Minister, Kituyi told Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta in his newspaper weekly column that he will miss services of former Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo. It’s a stinking abuse on the face of the Bukusu nation," added Majimbo.

Kituyi and Kombo are remembered for having fought each other out of power in 2007 and the two are already locking horns for the Bungoma senate seat.

While the former MP appears to be getting along well with Mudavadi, Wamalwa and Kombo have nothing to do with the DPM.

In Kituyi, Mudavadi would be assembling an ally who would do better in helping him contain the expected Bukusu resistance especially if Wamalwa and Kombo insist on staying out of the Luhya unity talks masterminded by the DPM.