The political tsunami that have engulfed Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) stronghold especially in Western Kenya is shocking. The recent decision by former ODM Secretary General and Budalang'i legislator Ababu Namwamba and Funyula lawmaker Dr. Paul Otuoma was all along anticipated for.
I have also realized that majority of political leaders in Western Kenya who were nurtured by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga have the tendency to gain leadership so fast that they tend to forget where they come from.
Former Sabatia member of parliarment and ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi made a comeback and yet another comeback in his political career in 2002 when he won Sabatia constituency sit on ODM ticket. He could later rise through various ranks, to the time he was Deputy prime minister in the coalition government of 2007-2013 (Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former president Kibaki's regime).
It would later emerge that he was a jubilee project, a ploy that was used to destabilize ODM and CORD stronghold in Western Kenya. Since then his political muscle and supremacy had hit a dead end. He had tried to restore his trust in Luhya nation but calls of him to go back to ODM are alive and well.
Ababu Namwamba's case is more similar. The purported third force is a fallacious theory that has no physical outlook. Already some leaders in the region have already taken sides, the recent one being dissolution of New Ford Kenya party to join Jubilee alliance. This follows last week's Bungoma Governor Kenneth Makelo Lusaka's press release in Nairobi where he said that the party had opted on joining the Jubilee regime ahead of 2017 polls and urged those troubled in ODM to defect. The question is whether the third force will be different from the Luhya super alliance that is being rumored to be formed.
It is so sad that some leaders in the region are so obsessed with leadership and the only thing they think of is falling out with their premiers and run back to their communities decrying frustrations. Who knows, the Budalang'i voters may well teach him a political lesson, Musalia Mudavadi was taught in 2013 general elections where he was beaten by ODM in his home backyard.
Luhya leaders should cease from the habit of making political decisions to champion their personal ambitions, some of which are political suicides and digging their graves politically. Leaders should tread their political path carefully.
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