Defiant Buke finally pushed out of ODM as he cries foul

Sacked ODM Director of Political Affairs Wafula Buke. [File, Standard]

It was the end of the road for Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Director of Political Affairs and strategy Wafula Buke after braving months of rebellious streak characterised by ugly spats with his bosses.

In his style, Buke, a former student leader and dyed-in-the-wool activist, announced his sacking on his social media page, vowing to fight back for his job.

“Friends and enemies, I was sacked yesterday as Director for Political Affairs and Strategy of ODM. Mr Edwin Sifuna, Mr Oduor Ongwen and Ms Judith Pareno, since you can’t pick my calls, I hereby confirm receiving your letter,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I ruffled snakes and have received my feedback. I disagree with you so I will see what to do about that. I just lost income but the struggle for a better ODM is for us all. The funeral for losing a job continues. No burial arrangements,” he signed off.

The chips began to come down on Buke in May. Invited by the South African Democratic Alliance through ODM to observe elections over there, Buke broke off from his “sponsor” mid the trip and started hobnobbing with its rivals, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

And so it was that while his colleagues were attending DA rallies, he was posting selfies in EFF rallies with strong messages of support:

“Nobody can stop the EFF’s match to power in the near future. EFF is a movement, a spirit, a consuming fire without remedy, it is pan African, it is the reincarnation of our independence liberation struggle, it crashes everything in its way, its leaders have committed class suicide.”

He said he could not stand having a “one sided view of the election” and complained that DA presidential candidate Mmusi Maimane had hurt him by calling on South Africans to liberate themselves from past liberators.

When the DA attempted to expel him, Buke refused, saying he ought to continue with his observation mission, engaging voters and “connecting with comrades”. He claimed his fellow delegates were avoiding him for fear of losing donor support.

When the going got tough operating on his own in SA, Buke announced to his Facebook friends that he was leaving.

“It has become necessary for me to prematurely come back home from South Africa. I just hope I get a chance to visit the EFF office. I visited the ANC office at night with a hired guide from Soweto,” he wrote.

Around the same time of the SA debacle, Buke went for the necks of his bosses who were also coming down hard on him.

Healing process

On May 9, he issued a public call on his boss Oduor Ogwen and two others to resign from ODM. He claimed only their resignations could stop the free fall of the Orange party.

“It’s good for the 3 of you to know that renewed faith in the party begins with your being at least sidelined in the ongoing healing process. I know that the entire Secretariat agrees with that but is simply blackmailed by the fear of losing their jobs. Party members have severally threatened to even beat you people up,” he said.

Soon thereafter, he received a show-cause letter, which he quickly rebuffed. As an old stagger in the rebellion game, Buke claimed he had survived similar purges before.

In 2014 he led in the eviction of then ODM Executive Director Magerer Lang’at and installed himself as executive director. At the time, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, who was the party Secretary General, gave him 12 hours to retract.

“I thought it better to give up the job so I refused to reply. Nyong’o spared me,” he wrote in June.

The Magerer debacle ended up on a similar note of another incident in the 1980s when Buke, alongside others, overthrew Nduma Nderi and installed himself as chairman of the students for a mere 36 hours.

“Prof Mbithi gave us 12 hours to step down and let the ‘elected’ Nduma rule. My colleagues back tracked. I went quiet too. I have regretted this decision till now,” he once wrote.

In 2013 when current Kisii Governor James Ongwae was Raila’s campaign manager had a spat with Buke and wrote him a show-cause letter, Buke rebuffed him.

“I wrote back and told him to upgrade his software to the 21st century where slavery is illegal. He didn’t reply,” Buke gloated over it.

Before that, Buke worked as Personal Assistant to Deputy President William Ruto when he was a Cabinet minister in the coalition government. He claims he parted ways with Ruto when the then Agriculture minister opposed the 2010 Constitution.

In the 90s when he worked at Kenya Human Rights Commission, Buke says he took on then commission boss Willy Mutunga: “We threatened to down tools as program officers. He told us to quit. I quit. My colleagues stayed on. I went hawking video tapes 4 two years.”