Kalonzo caught in BBI crossfire – Weekly Citizen

Former Machakos senator Johnson Muthama on Friday last week held secret talks with William Ruto at his Karen office where they discussed a possible pact with Kambas in the forthcoming 2022 general elections.

It was not clear if Muthama had Kalonzo’s blessings to spearhead talks to have Kamba supremo Kalonzo Musyoka work with Ruto now that Nasa coalition is dead and buried. Ruto who is now facing an onslaught from inside Jubilee party is working on other strategies for his 2022 presidential bid which now focuses on shifting on the over 2 million Kamba votes in the hands of Kalonzo.

Mutua

Two months ago Muthama held meetings with Tangatanga MPs from Ukambani who are fully backing Ruto’s presidential bid who mooted the idea of Kambas working with the second-in-command. Those who attended the meeting include MPs Victor Munyaka of Machakos Town, Vincent Musyok, Mwala, Nimrod Mbai, Kitui East and Fabian Kyule of Kangundo.

The MPs are Ruto’s pointmen in the region. On his side, Ruto is said to be alive to the fact the MPs are political lightweights as far as Kamba politics is concerned hence, the need to reach out to Kalonzo through Muthama.

The former senator has of late come out openly fighting the BBI initiative with word on the ground. Muthama has used every opportunity in Kamba radio stations to throw mud at both Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga angering Kalonzo who has vowed to work with Uhuru until 2022.

Muthama has found himself isolated in the unfolding new power matrix after the famous handshake with Uhuru and Raila that he fought from the word go. When Raila called a meeting at Stoni Athi in Machakos two days after the handshake to ostensibly explain it out to his Nasa co-principals Muthama confronted him demanding to know why Raila had sidelined his co-principals and instead gone to meet Uhuru with his daughter. Those at the meeting say they have never seen Raila so angry. Raila reportedly told others later that his daughter Winnie was carrying his drugs that he needed to take but kept on forgetting hence his daughter was to remind him time is due.

Ngilu

Those close to Muthama say he is unhappy with Raila for dumping him even after spending millions of shillings on his failed two presidential bids. Muthama would single-handedly finance Raila rallies which explains why Muthama was calling shots at the dais. Raila used to have both Muthama and former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero as head of resource mobilisation for the Nasa coalition where Kalonzo was his running mate.

Another factor that led to Raila-Muthama fallout was the fact that Raila negotiated the handshake deal with Uhuru alone locking Muthama out. Muthama was believed to be eyeing business deals with the government as it used to be during the grand coalition where he benefitted financially by brokering Mwai Kibaki-Kalonzo deal.

Despite the handshake, Muthama is still fighting for his name on incitement cases in court and he blames Raila for failing to fight for the cases to be withdrawn. While fighting for Raila, Muthama also landed in problems with the government where up to today, he has been barred from accessing State House, a ban that still stands up to date as Raila did not come to his rescue. His mining licences where also cancelled, landing him a major financial blow. Those close to him say he is feeling the heat.

The deputy president aware that Muthama is struggling financially has roped him in his campaigns and is on assignment to bring Kalonzo on board. Ruto is also aware that Nasa is history and Raila whom Kalonzo deputised for two terms is grooming the three Ukambani governors to tame him in Ukambani politics.

Kibwana

The trio is holding parallel BBI meetings in the region against those of Kalonzo with the blessings of Raila himself. In declaring war towards Kalonzo, Raila even went ahead to propose Kitui governor Charity Ngilu to Uhuru for her to be in charge of Kamba BBI process. Ngilu is a known Raila ally since their days in opposition politics.

Raila wants to propel Ngilu to checkmate Kalonzo now that the former vice president has hinted at abandoning him in the next elections. Ngilu is working with governors Kivutha Kibwana and Alfred Mutua. Ngilu and Kibwana recently held a consultative meeting where Mutua addressed delegates on teleconference.

Kalonzo is said to have read mischief in the meetings as aimed at sidelining him in BBI activities. To hit back, the Wiper party leader declared he was going to lead party MPs, MCAs and entire brigade to BBI Mombasa rally.

The three governors have organised their BBI rally scheduled to take place on February 1. The rally, according to them, will be graced by Raila himself, a proof that he is using the county bosses to fight Kalonzo whom he does not want to be part of the process. Kalonzo on his side, has declared February 7 next month for his BBI rally that will take place in Unoa grounds in Wote, Makueni county.

It is unclear whether Raila will attend his rally.

Raila and by extension, the governors, are happy that Kalonzo is spending much of his time attending to South Sudan matters where he is the envoy at the expense of local politics to further isolate him in the process.

The three county chiefs from Ukambani are also said to be bankrolling Raila to save them from the prosecutions now that the trio are facing allegations of looting county funds. To them, Raila is now controlling a “shallow deep state” that is harassing leaders allied to the deputy president. The move to appoint Kalonzo special envoy was aimed at removing him from the national political front.

The move by Raila to dump Kalonzo and work with the three governors has irked Kambas who are terming him a thankless man. Kambas have voted for his presidential bid twice courtesy of Kalonzo and not the three governors now dancing to his tune.

During the burial of envoy Cleopa Mailu’s mother which was also attended by the DP in Makindu, Muthama tried to market the Ruto deal. Majority Kambas see their way to power through Ruto.

In his speech, Ruto begged Kalonzo to consider working with him in future now that his political union with Raila has failed to bear fruits.

However, many Kambas are faulting Muthama for trying to bully people into accepting his deals saying times are gone when he used to dictate on Kambas vote with the region now having young brilliant politicians whom he should also listen to.

The Kalonzo-Muthama rivalry is not going to end soon now that Kalonzo is flexing his own muscle with BBI discussions being a tip of the iceberg. Those following Kamba politics say Kalonzo remains the community political kingpin and efforts by the three gsovernors to dislodge him will fail and fall with a big thud.