Wamalwa speaks more politics than water issues

When Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa was appointed, people from Western Kenya mumbled that he was given a morsel.

Eugene, he of the Queen’s English, innocent looks and grand march to State House which never took off, had been ‘in the cold’ for more than two years since his last appointment as a Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister during the Mwai Kibaki-led coalition government. He was hungry for a job.

In retrospect, it is just as well he was given the hind leg of a ministry and not the entire Environment docket currently under Prof Judi Wakhungu. For Eugene is a good example of what is wrong with governance in Kenya. He is a leader who says one thing and does the complete opposite; a leader behaving badly.

Being a lawyer, the former Saboti MP knows what the law says regarding Cabinet secretaries and politics. He knows he is not allowed to involve himself with politics as long as he is a Cabinet secretary.

Indeed, when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments last year, he stated that he had no interest in engaging in politics if confirmed as the Water and Irrigation Cabinet secretary. He looked so serious and convincing that he persuaded the committee.

But it is a promise the CS has not lived up to. Today, you might be forgiven to think that Eugene Wamalwa is a Jubilee spanner boy. He speaks more politics than the president and his deputy.

He is likely to grace your televisions and newspapers talking about Luhya unity and Jubilee Party than water or irrigation policies.

Wamalwa today is a full-time politician and a part-time Cabinet secretary. You might think that the CS should be more concerned by the game-changer Galana-Kulalu irrigation project. No, he is busy rallying the Luhya nation to join Jubilee and reminding CORD leader Raila Odinga his ‘honeymoon’ with the region is over.

When Ipos announces that CORD supporters sleep hungry, he probably sees politics, not the agony of millions of people sleeping hungry because they come from the rain-deficit areas of Nyanza and Ukambani.

What he might lack in political clout and shrewdness, he makes up for in eloquence and mastery of the Queen’s language. When he is not huffing and puffing Jubilee politics, he is busy dismissing presidential bids of Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula.

“Our community has barely two million voters yet we are the second most populous in Kenya. To make it worse, there are so many candidates fighting for the few votes. They cannot make it to State House,” he told leaders from West Pokot at his Kitale home.

Last year, the CS led a delegation of Luhya leaders to Deputy President William Ruto’s home in Sugoi. You can bet your life it was not to discuss water and irrigation matters.

In the Cabinet, Wamalwa has made a name as the Government’s most ardent defender. He makes other Cabinet secretaries like Najib Balala and Charles Keter, who were also politicians, look like novices.

Last year, he criticised the Opposition’s plan to impeach the president, saying it was a scheme to derail the Government. He warned Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa against being used to fight the President by supporting the motion.

“Though I’m not supposed to engage in politics, I want to advise my brother Chris Wamalwa to stop being used to fight the President,” he said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto said they will be the only politicians in the Cabinet. But this was before Wamalwa joined the Cabinet.

Asked why he engages in politics, Wamalwa said: “The Constitution only stops me from holding political office.”

So as fellow lawyers would say, the learned friend is ‘seized’ of the matter.