Kalembe Ndile: Man of the people who always cracked blunt jokes

Former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile, who died yesterday while receiving treatment in Nairobi, was widely known for stoking controversy.

If he was not cracking blunt jokes to pass a strong political message, Mr Ndile was making self-deprecating remarks about his level of education, his mastery of the English language and his leadership qualities.

Throughout his career as a lawmaker and even after being voted out, Mr Ndile distinguished himself as a man of the people, always proud of his roots.

Popularly known as ‘Mwana’a Squatter’, a squatter’s child, he packaged and sold himself as a man who rose from nothingness—cleaning toilets, burning charcoal and hawking honey—to the seat of power in Parliament.

He wore that mien like a badge of honour, always happy to display it, and used it to his advantage whenever an opportunity presented itself.

The resettling of hundreds of squatters whom the government had evicted from Chyullu Hills and the building of essential infrastructure such as police stations, hospital wards and mortuaries remain indelible memories among his followers.

Controversies

But they will also remember him for controversies. In his 2002 campaign message, for instance, he pledged to push for the domestication of elephants that terrorised residents in the regions bordering Chyullu Hills, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks.

“Once I become MP, we shall start domesticating elephants and using them to till our land,” he said.

He won the election on a Narc party ticket, beating among others, the incumbent Onesmas Mutinda Mboko, whose campaign hammered at Mr Ndile’s “unrealistic pledge” of jumbo domestication.

But, against all odds, the man who wanted to take on an animal as majestic as the elephant—just as his battle to become MP against political heavyweights in terms of money and experience— carried the day.

At that point, Mr Ndile, who had started his political career in 1997 as a councillor in the defunct Makueni County Council, did not know that he would become an assistant minister in charge of wildlife in President Mwai Kibaki’s administration.

While he did not manage to have elephants milked and plough farms, he used the proximity to power to finally push for the resettlement of hundreds of squatters the government had evicted from Chyullu Hills.

Today, the government is in the process of de-gazetting a 25,925-acre settlement scheme in Makindu where the squatters stay. One of the villages in the scheme is known as Kalembe Laa in honour of the fallen legislator.

The land was previously a rangeland owned by Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation.

In his condolence message, Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana called for the quick degazettement of the land in honour of Mr Ndile.

The two had worked together in fighting powerful individuals who had been allocated huge chunks of land by President Daniel Moi's administration to the chagrin of the landless in the present day Makueni County.

This is how Mr Ndile kept growing his political capital. After Kibwezi Constituency was divided into Kibwezi West and Kibwezi East constituencies, and buoyed by the resettlement of squatters, Mr Ndile contested in Kibwezi West but lost to little known Patrick Musimba, an independent candidate.

Defeated, Mr Ndile relocated to Mlolongo Township in Machakos County and set up a business empire, which includes a restaurant. He was picked by President Uhuru Kenyatta and hired as a member of Tanathi Water Services Board but until his death, he had not given up on politics.

Murky waters

Mr Ndile’s survival in the murky waters of politics has kept political pundits guessing. Scores attribute the survival to his being truly attuned to the needs of his electorate, boldness and political consciousness. “He was daring and used his humour to put across very serious points,” Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka said in his condolence message.

Mr Ndile unsuccessfully vied for Mavoko Constituency seat on a Jubilee Party ticket in the 2017 General Election. He, however, remained a force to reckon with in politics. Often chided for his limited education, Mr Ndile brushed off criticism, often insisting that leadership should not be pegged on academic qualifications.

He often told the story of how he did not get his secondary school certificate because he had not cleared fees, only to find out that the school had closed years later when he went to collect it, after making some money.

He would later go back to sit exams in the British education curriculum, and failed. “I had some Ds, but it does not matter, I have the papers,” he said in an interview.

Mr Ndile fell ill in March and was in and out of hospitals.  The 57-year-old father of 10 had suffered organ failure. “He succumbed to pancreas and kidney failure while being treated for liver cirrhosis,” his nephew Nzioki Kimilu, who had been by his uncle’s side at the hospital, told the Nation on phone.

President Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto, ODM leader Raila Odinga and Mr Musyoka led Kenyans in paying glowing tributes to the politician.