Investigate Senator Malala’s claims that his life is in danger
Senator Cleophas Malala reacts in the Senate when the DCI boss George Kinoti and IG Hillary Mutyambai appeared before the Senate Committees on Justice and Legal Affairs, and National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations on security concerns raised by senators on September 14, 2020.
What you need to know:
- Team Kenya is a group of senators opposed to the proposed Third Basis for equitable sharing of revenue among county governments, a formula that has seen the senate debate but fail to agree several times.
Renowned Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe in his 1958 novel Things Fall Apart says whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, something is after its life.
On Monday, Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala broke down on the floor of the House, crying that his life was in danger. He made an emotional appeal to Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti to bolster his personal security so that his precious life is not take away for he is “…a young father and husband.”
The first term senator claimed that there is a special squad within the Directorate of Criminal Investigation formed to eliminate him adding that members of the squad had held several meetings in one hotel or another to plan the elimination. He even had the code name of the squad and the dates of the said meetings and the types of arms they intend to use.
Influential enemies
These are serious allegations that must be treated with the seriousness they deserve. Being an elected Member of Parliament, Mr Malala is bound to have influential enemies.
But there are other schools of thought. Some people think the former high school teacher, playwright, actor and director of award winning Shackles of Doom is being creative in imagination and may just be trying to divert attention and attract sympathy.
According to this school of thought, the self-proclaimed member of Team Kenya may have been sponsored to deliver some vote in the Senate. But seeing the chances of keeping his end of the bargain fast fading, they argue, the young father and husband has come up with some theatrical acts to convince his sponsors that he tried but their enemy is mightier and he is indeed helpless.
Team Kenya is a group of senators opposed to the proposed Third Basis for equitable sharing of revenue among county governments, a formula that has seen the senate debate but fail to agree several times.
Dramatic arrest
To buttress this argument, proponents of this school contend that Mr Malala has in the past participated actively in clearing county governors impeached by their ward representatives on allegations of corruption and related vices and cannot pretend to be speaking for the common Kenyans, unless he has been paid to do so.
Others argue that the Kakamega senator has played similar games before. In an attempt to pour cold water on Mr Malala’s acts of fighting for Kenyans, some senior politicians claimed that the politician might have arranged his dramatic arrest.
Those dismissing the threats against Malala accuse him employing tactics of The Boy Who Cried Wolf in one of Greek Aesop’s Fables. This is a tale of a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his town’s flock.
When a wolf actually does appear and the boy again calls for help, the villagers believe that it is another false alarm and the sheep are eaten by the wolf.
It is crucial that all is done to establish the veracity of the threats against Mr Malala. I hope that the senator is indeed a toad jumping in broad daylight rather than the boy who cried wolf. For if the latter is true, then we have the wrong person in leadership.
