Bunge Chronicles: Waheshimiwa, political greed and the end of marriages

Parliament Buildings, Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Marriages end for the strangest reasons. They could end because of constant fighting, infidelity, hating your partner's snoring, or squeezing toothpaste from the middle (an unforgivable sin it is), among other issues.

Azimio, a polygamous marriage whose partners were wedded a month after Valentine's Day, could lose one of its spouses. Jubilee, ODM's mikayi (first wife), could be walking out of the marriage. No, ODM has not been unfaithful. (In any case, would unfaithfulness qualify as grounds for divorce in a polygamous union?)

Neither does Jubilee hate her husband's snoring. Their only gripe is that Baba's party is allegedly insincere and greedy. On Thursday, Sarah Korere, the mheshimiwa for Laikipia North, raised the matter in Bunge.

"ODM wametulaghai," she told her colleagues of Jubilee's exclusion from nominating a person to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), into which ODM nominated two waheshimiwa.

The former president's party had been warned of ODM's appetite, Madam Korere would tell her colleagues, but chose to look beyond the faults. Isn't that what love is all about? Loving someone, for better, for worse?

"Hii ni tabia ambayo wamezoea, ndugu zetu kutoka ODM, kufanya siasa za udanganyifu," she went on, as in-laws from Kenya Kwanza goaded with calls for a divorce, which Korere seemed hesitant to heed.

"Tulipojiunga nao hatukushurutishwa... tutakapowatalaka (sic) hatutashurutishwa," she added, revealing an addiction to what now seems like a toxic marriage. "Ndugu zetu wa Kenya Kwanza msubiri. Hamkuwa makasisi katika ndoa yetu na hamtakuwa makasisi katika talaka yetu."

Earlier, some Jubilee waheshimiwa, led by Nominated MP Sabina Chege, had held a press conference demanding a slot in the PSC, saying they came in peace. Inside Bunge, she would do the same, arguing for respect in what she termed "a mutual relationship".

"We are in a relationship and we demand respect," she said. "Wiper had their share and... Jubilee was supposed to get their share."

Madam Chege was more amicable, calling for a 'we-need-to-talk' session with ODM partners. Ruaraka's TJ Kajwang' responded, lamenting that ODM had been targeted unfairly and was being intimidated, given it had taken part in approving the list that included Fatuma Dullo's name. He had a solution.

"People don't make relationships in the streets," Bwana Kajwang' would state. "They make them in the bedroom. We know that there is a problem and we will go to the bedroom and do the work properly now."

The National Assembly had approved an initial list that included Dullo, but the Senate replaced her with Okong'o Omogeni.

But the list had, apparently, been hot air, given it contradicted another list fronted by Senate Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo.