Rivals Mutua and Kalonzo meeting stirs Ukambani

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka. (Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

 

A coincidental meeting between Wiper Democratic Movement leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua yesterday set tongues wagging over possible political realignments in the region.

Fired up by Dr Mutua’s powerful propaganda machinery, pictures of the two happily walking together, talking heartily in seclusion and dancing spread like bush-fire across the region.

The pair were at Karen Community Church in Nairobi attending the wedding of Robert Kivutha, son of Makueni Governor and Wiper chairman, Kivutha Kibwana.

Thin line

Mutua is holding on to a thin line as Machakos Governor after Kalonzo’s choice -- Wavinya Ndeti -- turned the tables on him in court. He has since appealed at the Supreme Court where the matter is pending.

“The most important thing is that we met, we talked briefly and we agreed to keep talking,” Mutua told Sunday Standard.

Kalonzo’s side were least enthusiastic about yesterday’s meeting with Mutua and played it down. While some saw it as a political mistake, others read mischief in Mutua making a big deal out of it.

“They are trying to make a mountain out of molehill really, when you look at it. It was all coincidental and nothing much should be read from this,” a Kalonzo confidante told the Sunday Standard.

The meeting came only a day after former Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama dared Kalonzo over the Wavinya ticket in case a by-election is called. Muthama put Kalonzo Musyoka on notice that he must, this time round, get it right on the widely anticipated Machakos governor by-election or else he “comes in” to forestall a third Wiper loss for the seat in six years.

Muthama wants the Wiper ticket for the seat -- Wavinya Ndeti for governor and Peter Mathuki for deputy governor -- rejigged.

Jubilee pointman

The same ticket caused such a bitter fall-out between him and Kalonzo in the run-up to the 2017 General Election that Muthama pulled out of the the polls altogether.

Wiper’s recent move to work with the Jubilee government may have complicated the political equation for the two. Mutua has been styling himself as the Jubilee point-man in the region, but this position will be threatened if Kalonzo joins government.

With declared presidential ambitions of his own, Mutua faces the risk of being pushed into irrelevance if Kalonzo is elevated by the handshake politics. Kalonzo has already been endorsed by his party as their candidate for the 2022 presidential race.

“I have come of age and he should respect that,” Mutua told a KTN reporter earlier this week. He invited Kalonzo to work with him to accelerate development for the common interest of the people.

Answering questions during the live television interview, Mutua said now that Kalonzo and his party were reading from the same script with him, it was no use for them to continue exchanging barbs.

‘’They attacked me when I supported President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election after quitting Wiper and forming my own party. Now that we are all supporting Jubilee’s agenda, we should work together for the interest of our people,’’ Mutua said then.

Yesterday, Kitui Senator and close Kalonzo ally Enoch Wambua warned Mutua that he should tread carefully in his “desired rapproachement” with the Wiper leader whom he described as the indisputable leader of the community.

“He may want to first come to terms with the political realities obtaining at the moment and recognise Kalonzo as the ultimate leader in the region. We all have ambitions but our time is not now,” Wambua said.