Isaac Mwaura’s expulsion will restore order, stop political prostitution

So Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura is unhappy with the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal’s decision to uphold the ruling Jubilee Party’s decision to expel him! A story in Saturday Nation (Page 5) titled, “Tribunal okays Mwaura ouster” says so.

I had the privilege to interview the legislator early May 2013 when he made history as the first person with albinism to make it to Kenya’s Parliament. Back then, the articulate MP, who was just weeks away from his 31st birthday mesmerised me with his gift of the gab and lofty ideals—just what the doctor ordered for Kenya’s amoral Legislative Assembly — or so I thought in my incorrigible naiveté.

My faith in Mwaura was informed by the fact that he was no pushover. “There was a lot of jostling with some people even saying that our (PWDs’) names should be removed (from the list of nominees),” Mr Mwaura told this writer. That was despite the fact that he had a proven track record with his sponsor party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

“I had worked for the party for seven good years; I had been a NEC (national executive council) official and the secretary for disability affairs. I worked with the PM (former Prime Minister Raila Odinga), and I was with Watu Walemavu na Raila (a disabled persons’ wing of the Raila campaign team)...”

Fast forward in 2017 and Mr Mwaura had dumped ODM for the Jubilee Party, which surprise of surprises, he has all but abandoned, 15 months to the next General Election for the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) — a political outfit linked to Deputy President William Ruto. Mr Mwaura is not alone. Early February, Jubilee resolved to expel other members — Kajiado Woman Rep Mary Seneta and nominated senators Falhada Dekow Iman, Naomi Jillo Waqo, Victor Prengei, Millicent Omanga and Christine Omanga — over disciplinary issues.

Properly expelled

I won’t say much about ‘the others’, for I hardly know anything about them. I shall confine myself to Senator Mwaura, who made a huge impression on me back in 2013. He was the last person one would expect to shift his loyalty from a party that had nominated him as the only Kikuyu among 12 other nominees in a political landscape deeply steeped in ethnicity.

Eight years down the line, the senator has proved that he is no different from most Kenyan politicians, whose choices are driven not so much by principle but by utter lack of it. It is politics of convenience — the type where it’s perfectly normal to have your cake and eat it too. Truth be told, DP Ruto, who, like Senator Mwaura, is gifted with unparalleled eloquence, has literally swept politicians across the country off their feet with his highly suspect hustler narrative.

Hustler philosophy

The DP’s persuasive charm has blinded his followers to the divisive nature of the hustler philosophy, which any right-thinking person can see that it has the potential of igniting a class war in this country.

Now, to me, such a war would be perfectly justified if it was led by credible revolutionaries, who lived what they preached. It’s not lost to the pre-1992 generation — the year Kenya reverted to multi-party politics — that former President Daniel arap Moi was anything but a champion of the poor and the marginalised. It’s the same Moi, whose Youth for Kanu 92 (YK92) movement, mentored Ruto and his ilk, an outfit that thrived on State largesse.

The DP has no moral leg to stand on as a champion of the poor. His sights are set on State House 2022 — a burning ambition that has seen his boss, President Kenyatta, complain that rather than wait for the baton to be handed to him, he’s literally running backwards to snatch it from his boss.

Senator Mwaura and his ilk have been sucked into the hustler movement and he cannot cry foul claiming that he was not given enough time to defend himself against expulsion. The political Parties Disputes Tribunal found that Senator Mwaura was properly expelled and he cannot now cry foul.

Let the law take its course, unless the President, whom he has denigrated at every turn, pardons him. It’s time all political prostitutes, who lack scruples of leaving their parties before affiliating with others, be shown the door. That is the only way to nurture principled politics away from the current politics of convenience where conscience is an alien word.

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