Battle of the giants in western Kenya

The battle for the new constitution in Western Province has once again rekindled the supremacy war between Mr Musalia Mudavadi and Mr Cyrus Jirongo.

The two students of retired President Moi’s Kanu school of politics have been trying to elbow out each other in what seems to be a never ending duel.

In 2002, Mr Mudavadi, now a Deputy Prime Minister belatedly quit Narc to join Mr Jirongo in backing Mr Uhuru Kenyatta for the presidency.

Withdrew support

Came 2007 and Mr Jirongo withdrew his support for the ODM candidate Raila Odinga after complaining that the party had dished out all positions if it took over the government.

A third player, Mr Chris Okemo, has joined the fray in the battle against the DPM. After the 2007 elections, Mr Okemo had hoped that he would be appointed to the Cabinet by virtue of being the most senior politician from the larger Busia region.

The choice of Dr Paul Otuoma did not go well with him and, he perhaps saw it as a ploy to tame him in the region by propping up Mr Mudavadi as the all powerful leader.

Although Mr Jirongo has mounted high profile campaigns in the province for ‘No’, Mr Okemo has not come out clearly. This has kept his political rival in Nambale constituency, Mr Sakwa Bunyasi, guessing.

Mr Mudavadi seems to have secured a major victory, galvanising the Western Province vote and for the first time rallying support for a cause even among the Bukusu of the province.

In all elections, except in the 2002 General Election, the Bukusu seem to go in a different direction from the rest of the province.

In the last General Election for example, while ODM conquered most of the Luhya areas, the sub tribe gave parliamentary tickets to MPs like Moses Wetang’ula, Bifwoli Wakoli and Eseli Simiyu, largely because of the Ford Kenya factor.

But this time, all the leading Bukusu politicians — Foreign Affairs minister Wetang’ula, Ford-K chairman Musikari Kombo and Eugene Wamalwa — are rallying support for the proposed law.

Mr Mudavadi has an overwhelming support for voters around Kakamega, Vihiga and Busia regions. But Mr Jirongo, the Lugari MP, is banking on some discontent over the creation of counties to win votes in the region.

There have been complaints that Western Province, given its large population, deserved more than the four counties it got.

The script for the post-Kibaki politics in Western Province could as well be penned by the unity in the referendum or the fallout after, with most of the MPs, save for Mr Jirongo and Mr Okemo, supporting the document.