If you are
in Kenya and you have ambitions of occupying one of the powerful and most coveted
positions in the political parties, you better re-think about your
machinations. Our political parties are well known to be personal and private
property and it is very common to hear the statement that they have ‘owners’.
In the past
few days, Orange House has witnessed a storm that was started by Members of
Parliament from Western Kenya who have become an unease lot due to their
marginalization in the Orange party arguably by the ‘who-is-who’ in the
political outfit.
Notable
officials who are among the disgruntled voices include Dr. Paul Otuoma who is
one of the Vice Chairmen of the party and Mr. Ababu Namwamba, the Secretary
General. Of key focus, however, has been Hon. Namwamba apparently because of
the position he occupies in the party. Earlier on seen as a personality that
could transform the party, Namwamba suddenly disappeared from the public
limelight raising eyebrows on what might have happened to the flamboyant Member
of National Assembly for Budalang’i constituency located in Busia County.
He resurfaced
few weeks ago giving two reasons to justify his absence from the party’s public
activities. One, he claimed that his efforts in transforming the party into a
vibrant political behemoth have been frustrated by some individuals who are big
wigs within the Orange Democratic Movement. Secondly, he stated that he was on
paternal leave.
The first
reason concerning frustrations has elicited a lot of criticism and accusations
directed towards the self-styled General.
But in any case his frustrations are very true. In the run-up to the party
elections in early 2014, Namwamba orchestrated a very lively campaign under the
auspices of Team Fresh, whose other notable member was Governor Ali Hassan Joho.
The party elections didn’t take place after a melodramatic scene occasioned by
the Men-In-Black who, in my own opinion, were agitating for the status quo. In other
words, they were anti-reform and would never allow the Team Fresh to take
office.
Fast forward,
faced with the stark reality that holding another election would drain the
party’s finances, the rival factions that had sprung up during the party
campaigns met with the Party Leader the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga to share the party’s
positions through consensus.
Coming into
office as the new Secretary General, Namwamba declared that he was competent
and would put in place major reforms especially concerning the party’s
primaries that are usually marred with chaos. However, his efforts seemed to
have fizzled out as soon as he began swinging his reform axe.
The smartly
dressed lawyer was casted into a partial oblivion state and this gave rise to
the Secretary for Political Affairs, Opiyo Wandayi and partly Senator James
Orengo to assume the role of spokespersons for the party, a role that is
reserved for the Secretary General.
Namwamba’s
silence and his subsequent claims of being frustrated are signs that perhaps
the eloquent legislator is on his way out of the Orange party. With profound
hindsight, other political leaders who were in ODM and then departed came up
with similar claims before they left the Raila Odinga led party. Recall the
Pentagon that comprised of William Ruto, Joseph Nyaga, Musalia Mudavadi,
Charity Ngilu and Najib Balala? Why did
they leave? Can you remember how the former Executive Director of ODM, Magerer
Lang’at was roughed up and hounded out of office? What did he say days before
he was dragged out of office? Frustrations, frustrations and frustrations.
At the
moment, some members of ODM are telling Namwamba and the other frustrated
officials from Western Kenya to quit but they need to revisit their simplistic
thinking in relation to the political costs. These are the same individuals who
dared William Ruto and Musalia Mudavadi to quit. The effect: Raila bid fare-thee-well
to the presidency. And somebody at Orange House hasn’t learnt any lessons from
past occurrences. Already there are rumors that the disgruntled camp is on its
way to the Dr. Julia Ojiambo led Labour Party of Kenya. But why do people
always leave ODM? Machine politics.
Ababu Namwamba
on his part ought to have cemented his control as the SG and fight from within.
But who knows may be the ghosts of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are
haunting him because his absence from the face of the party began soon after he
was replaced by Engineer Nicholas Gumbo, the Rarieda Member of National
Assembly, as the chairperson of PAC. So the machine politics within ODM seem to
have discovered the soft belly and Achilles’ heel of the son of Busia and he
needs to act like the proverbial cat with nine lives so as to resuscitate his
political career.
However,
Namwamba’s radical and reformist nature will never be accommodated in ODM lest
he establishes his own party. Parties in Kenya are owned by individuals and one’s
assertion as a heaven sent reformist can be one’s own undoing and bright
political minds will have their wings clipped. In any case which party leader
wants to witness a party official who is stronger if not mightier than him or
her? It doesn’t just work out in Kenya, at least for now. After all, political
parties in Kenya aren’t havens for radicals, reformists and visionaries.
