Splinter party trains sights on Wetang’ula

DAP-K

Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) party leader Wafula Wamunyinyi (right) and secretary general Eseli Simiyu at Bomas of Kenya on December 14, 2021 during the political outfit's National Delegates Convention.

Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Since last year, Wafula Wamunyinyi and Eseli Simiyu have been battling to wrest control of Ford-K from Moses Wetang'ula's grip.
  • Wamunyinyi and Eseli were elected on Ford-K tickets and their departure is no small blow to the party. 

Because of its initials, wags have been having a field day with the newly launched Democratic Action Party - Kenya (DAP-K), which they have likened to the popular DAP fertiliser. 

Certainly, Senator Moses Wetang'ula and his Ford Kenya party have no reason to be sanguine. Far from being a harmless bag of fertiliser farmers can look forward to acquire ahead of the planting season, DAP-K is like a loaded gun trained on Ford-K, the regional rival. 

The founders of DAP-K are Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi as party leader and Tongaren MP Eseli Simiyu as secretary general. Looming large somewhere behind is Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, who was present at the Tuesday launch and is being spoken of as the party's sponsor. Also present was Noah Wekesa, an ex-Cabinet minister and former MP for Kwanza. 

The battle lines are drawn. All the above personalities are prominent members of the Bukusu community of Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties. That happens to be the prime catchment area of Ford-K. To cut to the chase, Wamunyinyi and Eseli have since last year been battling to wrest control of Ford-K from Wetang'ula's grip, with Wamalwa and Wekesa presumably in the background cast. Wamunyinyi and Eseli were elected on Ford-K tickets and their departure is no small blow to the party. 

The war for control was lengthy and vicious. It went through the Political Parties Tribunal, the courts and God knows where else. But Wetang'ula would not budge. Frustrated, Wamunyinyi and Eseli broke away to form their new party. It was registered in May. 

Crowded kraal

Wetang'ula is not the only one on the DAP-K's sights. There is also Musalia Mudavadi of ANC, the other bull struggling to control the crowded Western Kenya kraal. ANC and Ford-K are affiliated to the One Kenya Alliance, together with Wiper and Kanu parties. 

I would not dismiss Deputy President William Ruto out of hand in his recent assertion that the 'Deep State' is creating and funding "small, tribal parties" that are popping up all over the place. Apparently, that is not far from what Mudavadi and Wetang’ula believe. Their supporters have been categorical that DAP-K has been unleashed to dilute their influence in the Western region. 

In Ruto's case, he is convinced these upstart parties - especially in Central, Northern and Coast regions — have been formed or resurrected to block the ascendancy of his United Democratic Party, which he touts as a national outfit. The presence at the DAP-K launch of Agriculture CS Peter Munya, who is a fierce government flamethrower, plus his pointed potshots at Ruto, was telling.

Perhaps it's the methodology that's different here. The state seems to prefer these regional parties that will agree to coalesce under the Azimio la Umoja, which is fixated on becoming a national movement. 

Harden stance

Mr Wamalwa has a filial history with Ford-K. His brother, the late Michael 'Kijana' Wamalwa, led the party during it illustrious days in Western Kenya. When nasty internal fights set in after his death, pitting 'Kijana' Wamalwa's successor, Musikari Kombo, and Wetang'ula (again), a splinter faction called New Ford-K was formed by the Kombo group, which eventually the younger Wamalwa came to lead. It thrived for a while before dissolving to join Jubilee in 2016. 

In the Western Kenya context, there is another very loud and wealthy player who is hard to ignore — Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary General Francis Atwoli. A video clip that recently did the online rounds saw him vowing to "crush" Wetang'ula politically. He has sworn he will soon mobilise the Western region to back Azimio if Mudavadi and Wetang'ula don't do so. 

Either by coincidence or otherwise, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) campaign was in full cry when the initial Wamunyinyi-Eseli coup was being executed in Ford-K. Atwoli was a key actor in the BBI campaign, whereas Mudavadi and Wetang'ula were lukewarm. Pointedly, the two party leaders have refused to heed the Azimio call of ODM boss Raila Odinga. 

There could be consequences in DAP-K's onslaught against Wetang'ula and Mudavadi. The two could harden their stance against Azimio and even sink any hopes of a rapprochement with Raila. DAP-K has, after all, openly allied itself with Raila, and by extension the state. 

All said, there's ferment in Western. Vihiga Senator George Khaniri, an erstwhile close ally of Mudavadi, last week announced on his Twitter page he would make a major "declaration" on Saturday (yesterday). He gave no hint of what the announcement was about. 

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I salute the government for undertaking the project of transforming Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi into a memorial park to immortalise our country's departed heroes. There will also be a museum focusing on the history of Kenya's freedom struggle. We must know our history; where we came from and where we are going. Memory is vital. A country without it has no soul.

It's a pity forgetfulness has become a national habit. I was astonished to hear about a 'Generation Z' fellow who was asking why Uhuru Gardens should be named after Uhuru Kenyatta! Jesus Christ! This dumbness is epic. 

Reportedly a notorious land grabber was in the process of grabbing the site before the military stepped in. This is a sacred space. It is where our national flag was first raised at Independence. This is where the British had built a barbaric Mau Mau concentration camp, our very version of Auschwitz.

We can't have such a hallowed ground getting desecrated by characters who are known to have zero regard for the 1950s freedom fighters. If the grabber had succeeded with his plans, we would now be seeing an ugly hotel and casino at that spot.