Uhuru’s cautious visit to Western highlights uneasy relations with region

President Uhuru on western tour

By JUMA KWAYERA

 

The downgrading of a long-planned presidential tour of  Western to a one-day affair highlighted the Jubilee leadership’s failure to gain traction despite a series of overtures to find accommodation in the populous region.

President Uhuru’s tour of the region last weekend had been expected to mend relations with residents, but elected leaders from the populous area gave the visit a wide berth. They later explained their action as an expression of disappointment with exclusion in public appointments and economic projects.

The revision of the itinerary from the original 10-day tour to a one-day event has also elicited passionate debate about the Jubilee Government’s wariness of hostility as perceptions of marginalisation widen the distance between the region and the government.

Last-minute alternations to the original itinerary that would have covered Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia and Vihiga counties reduced the tour to a low-key event in a region Jubilee partners – The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republican party (URP) – are involved in a silent but self-destructive tussle to wrest control of the electoral bloc from the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord).

It is not clear why a rally the president was to address at Shianda, some 10 kilometres from Mumias, was struck off the original plans. Also not explained was why the initial itinerary was revised to exclude Bungoma and Vihiga counties. No explanation was forthcoming as to why the president ‘skipped’ the homecoming party of Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka, commissioning of road projects in Bungoma and a CDF office in Mumias East constituency. Leaders interviewed claimed that intelligence reports from the area had called for a downgrading of the tour to a religious function where politics would be kept to the minimum.

While they would not specifically single out the impending by-election in Bungoma and having precipitated a change of itinerary, the leaders concur that a series of public rallies a number of leaders from the region held ahead of the tour had poisoned the atmosphere.

The by-election pits Moses Wetang’ula and Musikari Kombo, who are aligned to Cord and Jubilee respectively. Either risk losing the seat if they are perceived to be puppets of Cord or Jubilee bigwigs. President Uhuru’s presence in Bungoma would have signaled he was rooting for Kombo.

 

    Imposed leadership

The poll takes place against the backdrop of activities by Kizazi Kipya (New Generation) movement that has waged a grassroots campaign against perceived political puppets. The convenor of Kizazi Kipya Ken Butiko, a loser in the Vihiga gubernatorial seat, says the purpose of the movement is to create awareness about imposed leadership. It is instructive to note that the group has been active in Bungoma, where it is urging local people to determine their own destiny.

Speaking to The Standard on Saturday ahead the president’s visit, Webuye East MP Alfred Sambu confirmed plans are underway to form a political party for the region.

“If you look at Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, they left Kanu where they were born and nurtured politically to chart their own political careers. We do not want to belong to parties that are controlled by other people and where we play second fiddle,” says Sambu. The MP says parties such as TNA, Kanu, URP, UDF, ODM or Wiper are political vehicles for other communities.

It is believed that such strong sentiments may have downgraded the tour to a religious event rather than one where the president would propagate Jubilee agenda.

The initial itinerary had been planned to connect the president with the region as it increasingly becomes evident that the cracks that had been developing in the governing coalition are widening as the coalition toughs it out over portfolio sharing. Both the president and the deputy president are shopping for strong allies in the event their political marriage breaks up.

Western foots the bill.

Leaders interviewed say they boycotted the tour because they were not involved in arrangements. However, some say growing disenchantment with political leadership at regional and national levels is responsible for the persisting disinterest in the presidential visit.

Ordinarily, the leaders argue, when the president is visiting a region, it is customary for him to meet elected leaders from that particular part of the country before embarking on the tour.

Majority of MPs from Kakamega County who were conspicuously missing were at the 20th Anglican Church Mumias Diocese anniversary celebrations. Only the host, Mumias West MP Johnson Naika (ODM), and Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali (UDF) were present. UDF’s Yusuf Chanzu and Bungoma Women Representative Reginalda Wanyonyi, Nambale MP John Bunyasi and Bumula MP Boniface Otsyula were also present.

   Slap in the face

In the Mumias tour, most MPs, senators and governors say they were not properly briefed of the visit. In fact out of the 13 elected MPs from Kakamega County, only four were present. Senator Boni Khalwale and Governor Wycliffe Oparanya also kept off.

“I did not attend on a matter of principle. The president is welcome to visit any part of the country. The tradition has been that, whether president is visiting a region, he meets leaders from the area. Such a meeting allows him to pick out short-term and long term solutions. It also provides room for local leaders to put their act together,” Dr Khalwale says.

Some of the leaders observed that former Vice President Moody Awori, UDF leader Musalia Mudavadi and former Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa still find favour with the executive despite their political careers having taken a nosedive.

“Having been snubbed by elected leaders, the occasion resurrected the presence of Moody Awori, Musalia Mudavadi and Eugene Wamalwa. It was a like a slap in the face. It rekindled memories of how the Kibaki administration slighted us after the death of Michael Wamalwa. We had picked Dr Mukhisa Kituyi as the late Wamalwa’s replacement, but Kibaki did not want to invest in somebody with political capital. He favoured someone without political capital who was no threat to hegemonic influence of communities that had ruled the country,” explains Khalwale.

The snub has added impetus to talk of the region seeking to shape its destiny. Malava MP Moses Malulu Injendi says most Western MPs gave the president’s visit a wide berth because the Jubilee regime has not bothered to endear itself to the region.

Mr Injendi told The Standard on Saturday that the snub was intended to send a message to leaders from the region and other communities that future engagements will be on the basis of equitable distribution of national resources.

“The president is our leader and symbol of national unity. However, we feel marginalised. When Deputy President William Ruto visited the region, it was based on the understanding that corporation with Jubilee will based on things that are demonstrable. We are not considered for key positions in government and neither are we considered for economic projects,” says Injendi, a former sociology lecturer at Catholic University.

  Unison complaint

Like Khalwale, he says MPs were not given enough time and information to prepare for Uhuru’s coming in an electoral bloc still beholden to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.

President Kenyatta may have also shot himself in the foot for speaking in generalities rather than specifics. Host MP Johnson Naika was forthright in the demand for the revival of the sugar industry, but the president’s advice on diversification did not resonate well with local people. The sugar cane farmers were angry that the president was vouching for the dairy industry in which he is a major stakeholder.

“There were no deliverables in his speech. When you go to an area and find villagers are complaining in unison, you make some commitments. The president should have said something to change negative perception about the Jubilee administration, but people now remain suspicious that he was on a self-serving mission,” points Masinde Muliro University political science lecturer Peter Mulesi.

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