Which way Amani? MPs divided on move to sever ties with Jubilee

By OSCAR OBONYO and GRACE WEKESA

Hostility against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration in Western Kenya may have reached fever pitch, with some of the President’s strong allies now contemplating political divorce with the Head of State.

This weekend, a technical team of the Amani Coalition, which brings together United Democratic Forum (UDF), New Ford-Kenya (NFK) and Kanu, is on a retreat at Lake Elementaita, Nakuru County, to review their pact with the President’s coalition.

“The team will be advising us on three main options — whether to severe links with Jubilee, re-engage them on new terms or join the existing Opposition forces,” NFK party leader Eugene Wamalwa told The Standard on Sunday.   

Conceding that there has been some disquiet over Amani coalition’s relationship with Jubilee, the former Justice minister says a final decision shall be made “as soon as possible” to put the matter to rest. 

And speaking through his spokesman, Kibisu Kabatesi, UDF leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi observed that the fact that local leaders were raising issues now was an indicator that the Amani-Jubilee agreement was in jeopardy.

“MPs have complained of being excluded from consultations in Parliament on critical Bills by Jubilee leadership in the House. But obviously there has been disquiet about whether the agreements are worth anything anymore,” Kabatesi said.

Tangible development

That the rage against Jubilee has been building over the time was partly demonstrated last weekend when the mere mention of the President’s name by Lugari MP Ayub Savula at a teacher’s forum in Kakamega town, irked his audience who booed and jeered at him. The teachers told him to his face to disengage from Jubilee.  

“I am aware that our people are disappointed with this government over its failure to appoint members of the Luhya community to top positions. What I did not know, however, is that their rage had reached fever pitch,” says Savula.

Having experienced the hostility first hand, the MP is impatient with the procedural process of severing links with Jubilee: “Things are bad and the President and his deputy must act fast or forget about political support from this region, altogether.”

Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wagwe, Alfred Sambu of Webuye East and Dan Wanyama of Webuye West accuse the government of kicking out or demoting members of the community from plum parastatal jobs while at the same time failing to implement tangible development projects to benefit locals. They now want all MPs from the region allied to Jubilee to decamp.

However, not everyone is in agreement, including MPs allied to Deputy President William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP). Arthur Odera of Teso North argues that no one can purport to speak on behalf of all elected leaders of Western Kenya since they are affiliated to various parties, among them ODM, UDF, Ford-Kenya and URP.

Odera maintains that most MPs from the region are progressive and eager to make a difference in the lives of the people they lead. She claims that most the MPs who want to decamp from government “have beef with Jubilee” because of failure by government to accommodate two politicians into the Cabinet.

Tribal party?

“We cannot afford to lose our heads over personalities at the expense of development. Which, for instance, is more important – the revival of Panpaper Mill in Webuye or the appointment of Musalia or Eugene into the Cabinet? Is handing jobs to two individuals more important than revitalising sugarcane farming that is on the verge of collapse or helping to construct the Busia Sugar Company?” wonders the URP-allied legislator.  

And conceding that threats by Western Kenya politicians allied to UDF to cut links with Jubilee “have been around for some time”, Mudavadi’s running mate in last year’s presidential poll Jeremiah Kioni, observes that the MPs are free to decamp, “but they must be honest with their supporters”.

“They must tell the electorate that while some of us were trying to build a national outfit, they were nurturing a tribal party. And now if they are paying the price for politics of alienation they should quietly face the music without blaming it on anybody,” says the former Ndaragwa MP.

Premature move

Defending the decision to enter into a post-poll pact with the government, Kioni, who is also UDF’s deputy party leader, reminds the MPs that they are enjoying parliamentary positions on the strength of a working relationship with Jubilee.

Indeed these sentiments resonate with the position taken by Mumias East MP, Ben Washiali, a beneficiary of the Amani-Jubilee pact. The UDF allied MP, who is Jubilee’s deputy whip in the National Assembly, terms the move by his colleagues as “hasty and premature”.

“The pact was agreed upon through a formal meeting and any resolution to the contrary must also be conducted through a similar channel. I don’t support them (colleagues). Where are we moving to?” asks Washiali.

Vihiga MP, Yusuf Chanzu claims those advocating for the pullout are self-seekers and brokers working for the highest bidder: “Our leaders have served in key positions since independence, those crying foul at the moment should categorically point out development projects they initiated. Jubilee government has not neglected Western as they purport, sugar millers in the region have been given funds to progress and help farmers.

Meanwhile Webuye West MP, Wanyama, accuses the government of being tone deaf in the face of dismissal of members of the community from top jobs.

And noting that Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi, is a politician allied to URP, Wanyama says the Luhya community is angered by the CS’s attacks directed at Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary General Francis Atwoli, who hails from the region.

Unity efforts

Odera, however, exonerates Ruto from blame, saying Kambi neither runs ministry affairs at the behest of the DP nor URP: “Atwoli is a very smart guy. When he is in trouble he remembers he is a son of  Western and runs back home for cover, but when things are going on smoothly, we never get to see or hear of him. He should keep his troubles within the union.”

Nonetheless, Sambu is determined to lead the entire Western region out of Jubilee. According to him, there are several parties hampering unity efforts in the region: “But we have started touring every constituency starting with Lugari and after that we are going to take the message to other constituencies.”

Separately, Kabatesi maintains that Amani coalition was still independent and had not entered into the same coalition with Jubilee.

“Amani is not in Jubilee Coalition but has cooperation agreements with Jubilee. A coalition cannot be part of another coalition. This has been the mindless mischief being perpetrated by our detractors. Amani has stated it will operate independently whether the co-operation with Jubilee ends or not,” notes Mudavadi’s spokesman.