NASA line-up was zero on surprise element, low on leadership innovation

NASA principals of during their presidential candidate unveiling rally at Uhuru Park on April 27, 2017. [DENNIS OKEYO, STANDARD]

This past Thursday, there were probably a grand total of five people nationwide expecting the unveiling of a truly New Improved Opposition ‘with Powerfoam Plus’. The rest of the country knew Raila would be the flag bearer and the flag bearer would be Raila. End of story. Some even made spot on predictions of how the ‘NASA principals’ line up’ would look like.

Although the configuration that NASA presented to us at Uhuru park was zero on surprise element and low on leadership innovation, it was high on hidden comedic value. First of all, as Ekuro Aukot aptly put it: “Mudavadi, Ruto & Wetang’ula being promised posts of premier & deputy premiers respectively is like being promised gizzards when slaughtering a goat”.

It is not so much the hollowness of the promised positions that is baffling, it is the three politician’s feeble acceptance of the arrangement that is more perplexing. It is as if they do not realise the goat’s gizzard is not existent, or that if it miraculously was - the gizzard reward would be the equivalent of being awarded a lollipop for slaying a dragon: a complete and utter shortchange!

For Governor Ruto, Anne Waiguru’s former job was re-baptised and given a solemn title: State Department of Devolution and Planning. Dalmas Otieno’s past ordinary Public Service Cabinet job was decorated with political flowers and placed at Moses Wetangula’s feet as a novel offering. But the mysterious tribute to Mudavadi takes the cake. It only provides us a ‘more questions than answers scenario’. What will his job entail? Does ‘Chief Cabinet Secretary’ gain ‘Prime Minister’ status ceremonially or as head of government? Will his tasks include showing the Cabinet Secretaries where to stand when taking official Cabinet photos? Isn’t arranging the business of the Cabinet Joseph Kinyua’s or someone or the other’s present job? How has Cabinet been coordinating itself without this position since independence? It is like being convinced that you need an application on your phone to remind you to brush your teeth, a clockwork task you’ve been undertaking for years.

These ‘premier’ cabinet positions appear to be nothing but promissory ‘consolation prizes’, with little to no guarantee of actualisation. I say this because of two things. The first is that the political promises are made within a re-incarnation of a coalition that has a past strewn with broken ‘gentlemen’s agreements.’ Secondly, unless the three will be satisfied to hold ordinary cabinet positions with fancy names, there has to be either parliamentary action or a referendum in order to change the configuration of the executive. This is stipulated in Article 255 of the Constitution. NASA is aware that Parliamentary action is a long shot without the numbers in the House. And that a referendum is an even longer shot.

Less than 24 hours after NASA’s triumphant declaration, something further thickened the plot of this political telenovela. A blabbering Francis Nyenze entered the scene saying that he wants to ‘speak the truth and shame the devil’. The Leader of Minority alluded that Kalonzo is in the coalition representative only of himself, because his people were still stinging from the broken MoU. He was asking- Why would the ‘Kamba Nation’ vote for Raila now when 2017 is supposed to be their turn?

Now, with this precarious ‘MoU’ situation in mind, let us explore a few questions. If indeed Kalonzo and Mudavadi have hitched their wagon onto a back-tracking Raila, have they done so with full confidence? Is Nyenze a poorly disguised Kalonzo messenger? Is Kalonzo under duress in the coalition and aiming to still remind Raila that the Kamba vote is not guaranteed without him at the helm? Or is Nyenze truly representing disgruntlement of the Wiper party? Is he expressing the true sentiments of the Kamba Nation?

My view: the insecure principals will soon find that ‘a bird in hand is worth three premier positions in the bush.’ Because of the long festered mistrust in the coalition, the glue is weak. The likelihood that they will stay put as the frugality of their situation dawns on them, diminishes everyday. In the face of their illusionary pimped up posts, an instinct for political survival will drive them into the arms of a government that would be more than ready to dangle guaranteed positions - albeit with less ornamental titles.

The writer is a PhD candidate in Political Economy at SMC University, Switzerland and a Research Fellow at the Fort Hall School of Government.

[email protected]