Ukambani unity efforts may be too little too late

With a year to the General Election, the region is at a political crossroads.

Since 2007, when wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka first ran for President, the former vice-president has rallied the region’s vote behind his political cause, in 2013 and 2017 as the running mate of opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga.

But Mr Musyoka now faces opposition from retiring governors Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni), who have both declared they will vie for the top seat, and together with Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu, they have challenged the Wiper leader for the region’s supremacy.

With more than 1.5 million votes, the region is among the crucial vote blocs in next year’s presidential election, informing forays into the region by other leading presidential hopefuls, including Deputy President William Ruto.

Mr Musyoka is among those jostling to be One Kenya Alliance’s flag-bearer, a coalition being forged by Amani National Congress, led by Musalia Mudavadi, Senator Moses Wetangula’s Ford-Kenya and Kanu’s Senator Gideon Moi.

Political divisions 

Concerns about the political divisions in the region dominated talks when a delegation of Kamba elders visited Prof Kibwana at his home in Wote town yesterday.

“The three presidential hopefuls in this region are all banking on one vote basket. That basket should be given to one person who is able to successfully court other regions,” said former Nairobi Deputy Mayor Ali Mwanzi, the chairman of the lobby Thome Wa Akamba.

The group of elders, with members from Kitui, Machakos, Makueni, Mombasa and Nairobi counties, is the second to visit the governor, who is recovering from a medical operation, after members of the Akamba Clans Governing Council, an association of the leaders of the community’s 22 clans, came calling on Friday.

The first team hailed the governor as a consummate leader who espouses the interests of the Kamba nation and who has what it takes to lead the Kamba and the entire country to prosperity. They tasked him with uniting the region’s political class.

The leaders of the cultural associations have been at the centre of succession politics. They rubbed local leaders the wrong way in 2017 when they rallied the Kamba behind President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election.

They went against the region’s political grain when the region rallied behind Mr Odinga, who was the National Super Alliance (Nasa) candidate.

Obviously, the elders sparked a backlash from pockets of Mr Musyoka’s allies in the region when they openly endorsed Prof Kibwana’s presidential bid.

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They feel that the recognition could embolden Prof Kibwana, who is expected to eat into the Kamba voting bloc that the former vice-president is banking on as a launch pad for his 2022 presidential bid.

Whereas the Wiper family strongly believes that Prof Kibwana and Dr Mutua are not strong candidates compared with Mr Musyoka, they feel the duo, together with Mrs Ngilu are working closely with Mr Odinga to undermine Mr Musyoka. The ODM leader is believed to be interested in succeeding President Kenyatta.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo filtered his disdain during a funeral on Saturday. He said he had no problem with the endorsement but asked Prof Kibwana and Dr Mutua to rally behind Mr Musyoka’s 2022 presidential bid.

Mr Musyoka, whose party is the most popular in Ukambani, hopes to secure and fly the One Kenya Alliance ticket in the 2022 presidential race.

Too late

Members of Thome Wa Akamba, however, feel that the former vice-president cannot realise his dream if he does not unite with Prof Kibwana and Dr Mutua.

The three should then settle on one of them that the community should rally behind ahead of next year’s General Election, a call Prof Kibwana supported.

“We risk remaining in the political cold longer if we approach the 2022 elections as a divided nation,” Prof Kibwana said, echoing the two delegations of elders, who lamented bitterly that disunity had cost the region the much needed development projects.

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The governor said he will support efforts by the elders to heal the rift in the region’s political class. But many observers feel the unity bid is a tall order that came too late.

National Council of Churches of Kenya chairman Timothy Ndambuki has ruled out the possibility of the Kamba community producing a President in next year’s polls.

Archbishop Ndambuki, the head of the African Brotherhood Church who sits at the apex of an association of Kamba elders, elites and the church, has been on a mission to unite the Ukambani political class for more than a decade.

None of those interested in the presidential race in the region, he said, can beat Deputy President William Ruto ‘because they have no agenda”.

“We should forget the presidential bid. We are too divided and confused to produce a presidential candidate,” he told church leaders in Machakos over the weekend.

Mr Ndambuki’s declaration comes as Mr Musyoka, Prof Kibwana and Dr Mutua separately gear to popularise themselves as the most suitable candidates to succeed President Kenyatta.

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