Bare knuckle fight for Western's political voice as Echesa, Malala clash reawakens

The clash between Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala and Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa’s supporters on Friday that resulted in the stoning of vehicles and a brief shoot out, point to the ongoing supremacy wars in the politics of succession in Western Kenya.

For the first time in decades, a new and younger breed of politicians is stepping out of the shadows of the traditional kingpins to claim their place and fill an anticipated vacuum to be left with the exit of the region’s political old boys.

Yesterday, in separate interviews with the Sunday Standard, both insisted they were miles apart from each other, trading barbs and each insisting on a personality bigger than the other.

While Echesa said Malala was envious of his government position, the later observed that the Cabinet Secretary was yet to understand his roles and accused him of instigating the Friday fracas.

‘Political juvenile’

But Echesa, in a rejoinder, termed Malala a “political juvenile suffering from political adolescence” and urged him to concentrate on representing the people of Kakamega in the Senate and avoid petty politics.

“Some are jealous and do not believe that from my humble background, I now have a national responsibility. They are yet to come to terms. For now, I am focused on my duties and will avoid the negative energy from Malala and his ilk,” said Echesa.

The CS said he will put politics to the back-burner until 2022 as he concentrates on delivering at the Sports docket. “I want to deliver in my position as payback for the honour the President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto gave me,” said Echesa.

But Malala argued that the Sports CS was still playing politics, forgetting that he was a state officer.

“He spends most of his weekends in funerals here and doing politics, he does not know what position he holds,” said Malala.

The political fight between the two, Malala a thespian and Echesa a former boxer, could perhaps signify the deeper underlying currents in the politics of a reign struggling to find a unifying voice.

With both Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula finding it increasingly difficult to maintain relevance, the two have perhaps seen opportunity as the region prepares for a change of guard.

With the slowing up of senior politicians -- the others being former Vice President Moody Awori, Busia Senator Amos Wako and former Cabinet Minister Fred Gumo -- and with Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and his Busia counterpart Sospeter Ojaamong serving their second and final terms, an opportunity has presented itself for a new crop of leaders.

Political analyst Martin Andati, however, believes that the two are an extension of a surrogate war between Deputy President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga, with Echesa fighting for the later and Malala for the former.

“The political war is being cascaded from the national to the local level, with the two representing each of their sides. It has nothing to do with generational change, Mudavadi still has an edge in the region’s politics, though he has been slow to take the responsibility strongly,” said Andati.

Ruto vs Raila

If this is the case, many more will join the battle as both Ruto and Raila would want their pound of flesh from the vote rich region.

The new kids on the block might have a bruising style, but so did those who came before them. At one time, firebrand politics was what the region was known for. Former Butere MP Martin Shikuku and former ministers Peter Habenga Okondo and Fred Gumo never shied away from confrontation, either through their words or fists.

Shikuku’s acerbic tongue and witty statements put him and Butere on the map. Although Gumo, who is seen as the father of rough politics, was elected in Nairobi, his political tentacles were felt all the way to western where he ran his politics with an iron fist and thrived in his Fanya Fujo Uone moniker. It was either his way of the highway.

Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale and former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo were the later day politicians who at one point in their careers came close to matching Shikuku’s political agility.

It is the exit of these initial crop of leaders that is culminating into the jostling for space by the newly elected, newly appointed, newly influential crop of young leaders in western.