Can the Luhya produce a president in 2022? – Weekly Citizen

Mudavadi

Wetangula

As the clock fast ticks towards the much anticipated 2022 electoral cycle, question abound on the trajectory Luhya politics will assume at the highest level amid emerging schism, confusion, indecisiveness and self-centeredness already defining the community’s leading lights.
As things stand, the top political lights from the Western region appear to be positioning themselves for lesser opportunities tantamount to tokenism at the expense of the community’s elusive clamour for the top seat.
Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi has kept his supporters guessing what he is upto. Word has it, if a referendum is held and new political seats created, Mudavadi is likely to go for deputy governor slot as a bargain.

Oparanya

Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya has shifted base to William Ruto side. Oparanya concern being Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala elected on ANC ticket is slowly making his ways in ODM top leadership and is likely to land the party ticket for governorship to succeed Oparanya. The two are sworn political enemies and with the governor now one of those eyeing to be Ruto runningmate, analysts are keenly watching unfolding events in the county.
What analysts are asking is, apart from Oparanya, Ruto has promised senate speaker Kenneth Lusaka the position of runningmate, Ford-K boss Moses Wetangula and now Oparanya.
For now, as things stand, no politician appears to have exuded some semblance of serious intention at taking the stab at the presidency in the 2022 succession matrix.
Yet, this may not be given if emerging indications among the ranks and file are anything to go by. With talk rife that Oparanya could subtly be doing Ruto bidding in one way or another, it is Mudavadi who singly sticks his neck out as the populous community’s ray of hope.

Amos Wako

Be that as it may, skeptics nay critics, relentlessly take issue with the former deputy prime minister’s overrated ‘gentleman’s politician’ mantra. It is argued that Mudavadi has got no ‘balls’ to play in the rough terrains that are Kenyan politics.
In retrospect, the Nasa co-principal tested debilitating political betrayal when he was duped to believe that the post-Kibaki mantle was his to lose in 2014 only for Jubilee’s Uhuruto duo to beat a hasty retreat at the eleventh hour leaving him and his supporters in awe.
Though this incident appears to have awakened him to the political reality of the day, subsequently transforming him to a bold player, it is felt Mudavadi still needs to do more if he were to achieve his ambition of succeeding Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022.
Mudavadi’s presence in Nasa’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2017 and subsequent role in matters of national importance, however, offers room for an emboldened MM as Mudavadi is fondly referred to.
A nascent political war of attrition among top Luhya politicians well ahead of 2022 does not help matters either. Curiously, Mudavadi’s detractors angling for the control of Western’s rich vote basket have been openly campaigning for William Ruto’s attention.

Lusaka

Word doing rounds has it that Oparanya is keen on negating the gains that his party leader Raila Odinga and Mudavadi have made in the region as a way of boosting his ratings as far as Ruto and 2022 are concerned.
This would create space for the recently elected council of governors’ chairman either as Ruto’s running mate or influential post-2022 ally. Interestingly, Oparanya’s political nemesis, former Kakamega senator Bonny Khalwale has long been on the forefront campaigning for Ruto, making him a key pointman of the DP.
This has further occasioned discontent in his Ford-Kenya party, whose own leader Wetang’ula has been blowing hot and cold as far as his support for Ruto and his own position are concerned.
Matter-of-factly, Wetang’ula’s high profile tiff with Raila in some recent past practically renders him ineffectual as far as the Kenyatta succession is concerned. When all is said and done, Raila commands unparalleled influence in the western region and beyond.
More recently, the crowned African Union special envoy is said to have saved Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa from the throes of Ruto’s antics when he implored on Uhuru to spare Eugene a dismissal from the cabinet as propagated by the DP.
Tellingly, Eugene was conspicuously present at Raila’s father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s fete in Siaya. It goes without saying that before serving at his current work station at the Treasury, Eugene had high profile stints at the Justice and later Water ministries.

Khalwale

Malala

Wamalwa

His stay in the executive is attributed to a continuation of fond memories of his late brother, former vice president Kijana Wamalwa, who worked perfectly well with president Mwai Kibaki and Raila, that went ahead to vanquish Kanu and propel Kibaki and Wamalwa to power.
It is not lost on observers that Eugene has been far from enthusiastic about Ruto’s perceived self-entitleness to the post-Uhuru seat of power. If anything, the CS once told off Ruto, albeit indirectly, to stop presuming that 2022 was akin to a birthright.
A one-time wannabe presidential and Nairobi governor contender, Eugene, a former Saboti MP and Ford-K leader, has been guarded on his future political plans – if any. Speaker of the senate Lusaka is understood to be eyeing a top slot as Ruto’s running mate.
In Busia, Senator Amos Wako, one of the region’s biggest brains, continues to exhibit political aloofness of monumental proportions, choosing to instead offer intellectual counsel to Raila and his leadership at various levels.

Ojaamong’

On the other hand, Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, an influential political figure in the region, thanks to the influential Teso vote block has been making discreet trips to Ruto’s residences in Karen and Sugoi in Uasin Gishu. Though he has made veiled intentions to run for the top seat, Ojaamong has metamorphed from a Jubilee critic to a staunch Ruto ally. He wants Ruto help him deal with the corruption criminal cases he is now facing.
Over years, the Luhya Nation has been defined by unending political divisions anchored on clannism. With 17 subtribes to boot, the Maragoli and the Bukusu – the two most populous – have been the most divided, always voting in the opposite direction.
It was not until the 2002 Narc juggernaut that the region voted as a bloc to end Kanu’s 40-year reign, a development attributable to the late Wamalwa’s uniting factor on the one hand and anti-Kanu sentiments on the other.
One politician in the region being waited is Mukhisa Kituyi whose term at United Nations is coming to an end.According to sources,with Mudavadi and Wetangula having fallen out with Raila,the ODM leader may engage Kituyi in local and national politics.