Raila rescues forgotten Chelagat Mutai

By John Oywa

Former firebrand politician Philemena Chelagat Mutai flashed a smile of hope as nurses wheeled her into a ward at the National Spinal Injury Hospital, a pale shadow of a vibrant figure that kept the then Kanu regime on it toes for close to a decade.

Seated on a neatly spread bed and sandwiched between Prime Minister Raila Odinga, ministers James Orengo and Fred Gumo, Mutai, now 62, struggled to

Mutai outside her home in Nairobi’s Kasarani estate

maintain her dignity as the first woman MP from the Kalenjin community even as she reflected on a militant political past that saw her jailed and shoved out of the public limelight.

She has been living in a friend’s one-roomed house near Kasarani, in Nairobi from where she quietly but boldly battled for survival ever since she fell from grace in 1981.

The former Eldoret North MP suffered a spinal injury in a 2006 road accident and has been confined to a wheel chair ever since. Lack of resources has made it impossible to get quality treatment.

"It has not been easy but I don’t want to appear as if I am too sick. I am still the Chelagat Mutai you used to know," she told journalists on Tuesday.

Pleasant surprise

Dressed in a checked blouse, brown trousers and open shoes, Mutai told Raila of her struggles with life. Mutai got a pleasant surprise on Tuesday afternoon after a team from Raila’s office collected her from her friend’s house and drove her to the hospital.

A sullen Mutai initially refused to speak to The Standard and KTN team as a few neighbours gathered to witness her departure to hospital.

"I don’t want to be interviewed here please. Let me go to the hospital first," she said, apparently embarrassed by her situation.

Her friend and host for many years, Ms Jane Wanswa, said they have been surviving on her small-scale business.

"It has been hard but we have managed. When she became very sick, I abandoned the business to take care of her," she said.

At the hospital, Mutai found medical staff waiting with her bed already made. Her face lighted up when Raila and his team arrived.

Mutai waving before being taken to court in 1976

"I am very happy you listened to my plight and came to my assistance," she told the premier who appeared emotionally moved by her medical condition.

"I have been trying hard to survive — trying my hand in farming and in business. I have had problems but I kept to myself because making noise would only have multiplied them," said the former legislator.

She added: "When things got too much, I decided to reach out to the Prime Minister and I am so happy he acted quickly to help save my life."

Seven bearded sisters

Mutai rose to national limelight after the then Attorney General Charles Njonjo named her as one of the "Seven Bearded Sisters" in reference to a group whose fiery debates in Parliament gave Kanu sleepless nights.

The others were: Onyango Midika (Nyando), Koigi Wamwere (Nakuru North), James Orengo (Ugenya), George Anyona (Kitutu East), Chibule wa Tsuma (Kaloleni) and Mashengu wa Mwachofi (Wundanyi).

Ms Mutai, a political scientist, became the youngest MP ever in 1974 after her uncle, the late William Saina, was jailed for incitement. At only 24, she trounced 12 other candidates to become the country’s youngest legislator and the first woman MP from the Kalenjin community.

But her sharp tongue landed her in trouble two years later after she was arrested and jailed for six months after she complained of land grabbing and incited her constituents to invade a plantation at Ziwa.

She completed her term and returned to Parliament, but her troubles did not end there. Hunted by the Kanu Government because of her militancy, she was accused of falsifying mileage claims alongside other MPs and was due to be arrested when she fled to Tanzania in 1983 to escape a second stint in jail.

On Tuesday, Raila and Orengo hailed Mutai as an icon of the struggle for second liberation.

Liberation struggle

"She has been with us in the liberation struggle. I was saddened to hear she has been sick and we decided to bring her here for specialised observation. We are trying to reach out and assist people who participated in making Kenya what it is today," said Raila.

He added: "She is in very good mental state and is in high spirits despite the physical disabilities."

Orengo recalled Mutai’s ferocious debates in Parliament.

Ms Philemena Chelagat Mutai shares a moment with Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right), Lands Minister James Orengo (left) and other well-wishers at the National Spinal Injury Hospital in Nairobi, on Tuesday. Photos: Jonah Onyango/Standard

"When people speak of seven bearded sisters, they forget that Mutai was the first one in that group. She took the Kanu Government head on, long before the others came to the scene. She helped to change the political landscape so that people can face the State."

Said Orengo: "She is where she is today because she had refused to be comprised. I am happy she remains as alert and sharp as ever."

On Tuesday, Mutai said she had forgiven the Kenyatta and Moi regimes that frustrated her.

"I have no grudge with either the late Kenyatta or Moi. They did what they did to me because they wanted to maintain their grip on power. I am not bitter."

But she said the charges against her were a "pruning exercise" meant to weed out controversial leaders.

Lost faith

She said she had lost faith in the country’s political system because the existing political parties lacked ideologies and were merely used as vehicles to attain power.

"I have not seen any political party with a long term ideology. This is why I have not been in a hurry to return to politics," she said.

She added: "I think our country has three forms of government – one that meets in secret, plots in secret and implements things in secret, another government where leaders meet to flatter each other and the government where people work."

Mutai said after returning from Tanzania, she briefly reconciled with the Kanu regime and was even given a senior job at the Kenya Commercial Bank. She also worked briefly at the Kanu headquarters and for the Standing Committee on Human Rights.

But things went haywire again when in June 1999, she was sacked from the human rights body through a radio bulletin.

Asked if she would rejoin politics, Mutai said: "When I leave hospital, I will shop for a political party that can accommodate my ideologies."