Khalwale: Is he a political gun for hire or reformist?

“Some of these people seemed genuinely concerned to be reforming this country. I cannot say the same of most of them who are in government today,” says Dr Khalwale.

His most memorable moment as a member of the NCEC occurred in 2000 in Busia Town. Police abruptly disrupted a meeting attended by Mr Orengo and Mr Murathe among other vocal critics of the Moi government.

This intrusion forced them to flee for their lives, abandoning their vehicles as they made for the bushes.

“We walked 20 kilometres through the bush, dodging the police. We were certainly getting lost when a Good Samaritan eventually gave us a lift to safety in Kisumu,” he remembers with a chuckle.

Sadly, their struggles and sacrifices seem to be coming to naught. He noted the continuing grand corruption in the Kibaki era as proof that the ideals they struggled for had not been achieved.

“Our people are disillusioned. If anything has changed, then it can only be for the worse. For those of us who are dedicated to reforming this nation, we realise that the struggle is far from being won.”

It is this realisation, he says, that is currently guiding him in Parliament. Perhaps more than any other politician in the Tenth Parliament, Dr Khalwale has captured the psyche of the nation the most.

His fight against graft in the House has rendered him a political enigma, a political puzzle to crack.

Some people think that this fight is garlanded with deep-seated personal ambitions.

Others wonder whether he is really the reformist he has packaged himself to be, a political mercenary as claimed by some, a champion of the people, or just a rebel without a cause.

“I was born into a peasant family. It naturally follows that my allegiance and cause will always be with the common man,” says Dr Khalwale who mentions former Vice-President Kijana Wamalwa, now deceased, as his political mentor.

He is the chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee. The committee has acted as the official opposition in the absence of a real one following the formation of the coalition Government.

He names some of his best friends in Parliament as Gitobu Imanyara, Mithika Linturi, Ekwe Ethuro, Charles Kilonzo and Kiema Kilonzo.

In this group, he has become outspoken against corruption, stepping on the toes of some of the most powerful leaders in the country in the process.

He has put Agriculture minister William Ruto on the spot over the maize scandal. The country is said to have lost more than Sh800 million to briefcase millers and unscrupulous businessmen.