The ‘little’ man who brought down Mwakwere

When Ayub Juma Mwakesi filed an election petition against former Cabinet minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, he knew only too well that the trial would be a modern-day battle between David and Goliath.

And as in the biblical story, instead of donning a coat of mail and a brass helmet and arming himself with a sword, Mwakesi settled for two smooth stones: lawyers Mohammed Balala and Abeid O. Abeid.

They put up a spirited fight that saw the veteran legislator shown the door.

So who exactly is Mr Mwakesi? Until the judgment was delivered Friday, he was relatively unknown. But he became known as a giant killer after Mr Mwakwere’s election was nullified.

Born 29 years ago in Tiwi, Matuga, Mr Mwakesi, who was recently married, attended local primary and high schools and remained in his home area looking for casual jobs to make ends meet.

With no regular source of income nor political experience, he was approached by then Kanu candidate in Matuga constituency Hassan Mwanyoha in 2002 to be his election agent. But Mr Mwanyoha lost the election.

In 2007, Mr Mwanyoha, who had moved to ODM, again asked Mr Mwakesi to be his main agent. He agreed, but as he later told the Sunday Nation, he knew it would be a difficult task to monitor virtually every polling station and brief the candidate.

“It had never really crossed my mind that I would be deeply involved in an election process like I was in 2007. But I courteously agreed to assist Mr Mwanyoha because among all other people, he trusted me to do a good job for him,” Mr Mwakesi said on Saturday.

After spending nearly 24 hours monitoring the voting process in more than 100 polling stations and the tallying exercise, he was certain that his candidate had freely and fairly won the hotly contested race. So it was a shock when Mr Mwakwere was declared the winner.

“I had this feeling of rage because I was convinced that Mwanyoha had won. I just could not believe that the returning officer had cancelled the results of two polling stations in which he (Mwanyoha) was leading,” Mr Mwakesi said.

Even though his candidate conceded and did not want to pursue the case at the High Court, Mr Mwakesi, despite lack of resources, decided to challenge the outcome. So he approached some constituents and Mr Mwanyoha’s supporters for financial assistance to file the case.

“Some willingly assisted me, while others backed off because they simply knew that I was fighting a losing battle,” said Mr Mwakesi.

And some influential businessmen and politicians in Mombasa also bankrolled the petitioner for close to the two years the matter was in court.

But there were others who didn’t appreciate his action.

“I received death threats soon after filing the petition and proposals to withdraw the case with promises of huge amounts of money, but I declined,” he said.

Moments before Justice Mohammed Ibrahim walked into the courtroom on Friday, Mr Mwakesi said he was stressed, nervous and tense; at one point he fell asleep on a bench not knowing what to expect.

“After three agonising hours, the best moment for me came when I heard the judge say that the people of Matuga were denied justice by declaring the wrong results,” he said.