Wiper defectors to ditch Jubilee as voter hostility intensifies

Ukambani MPs who defected to Jubilee Party are contemplating running as independent candidates or quietly returning to the Wiper party as hostility from the electorate grows.

The MPs fear that it will be hard to campaign for the ruling Jubilee Party in the region and successfully defend their seats.

Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka set the political tempo this week when he told President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto that the recent defections amount to nothing as the MPs will be punished by voters at the ballot box.

The remarks seem to have incited the electorate against the lawmakers, who may have to contend with a likely backlash should they stay put.

Mr Musyoka’s assertion that he had let go of the MPs seems to have shut the door for possible reconciliation and marks the start of the party’s efforts to unseat them. With former Cabinet secretary Charity Ngilu gravitating towards Mr Musyoka and the Cord coalition, the MPs fear that a combined political force of the two senior Kamba leaders would be difficult to counter in their respective constituencies.

The political scenario in Ukambani is shaping into a repeat of the 2002 National Rainbow Coalition where both Mr Musyoka and long-time rival Ngilu joined hands to punish parliamentary candidates fielded by then ruling party Kanu.

Mwingi North MP John Munuve told the Sunday Nation that he would run as an independent candidate despite having jumped ship from Wiper to Jubilee Party.

“I’ll present myself to voters as an independent candidate and campaign on my five-year development record, which is impressive,” Mr Munuve said.  

Another MP, Ms Rachel Nyamai (Kitui South), who recently broke ranks with Mrs Ngilu over dissolution of their Narc Party, sent a delegation of elders to plead with her former party leader and political mentor to reconsider working together.

RECONCILE LEADERS

The Narc MP dispatched her key supporters, led by Prof Reuben Muasya, who is a Deputy Vice-Chancellor of South Eastern Kenya University, to impress on Mrs Ngilu that her attendance of the September 10 Jubilee Party launch did not amount to defection.

According to Mr Kirk Mbiti, the group told Mrs Ngilu that Ms Nyamai attended the Kasarani event to show gratitude to Jubilee leadership for having allowed her to chair the Health committee of the National Assembly.

Mr Mbiti admitted that the MP’s decision to work with Jubilee had created a wedge between her and Mrs Ngilu that may easily cost Ms Nyamai the next election. He added that they were determined to reconcile the two leaders.

The Narc leader declined to dissolve her party, saying that would deny her the voice and influence she had struggled for years to achieve.

On his part, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua is reported to have paid up his Wiper Party membership dues despite the much-hyped launch of his Maendeleo Chap Chap movement and subsequent tours.

Party chairman David Musila confirmed that Dr Mutua had cleared all his membership contribution arrears.

Dr Mutua’s refusal to fold his yet-to-be-registered political vehicle and his failure to attend the Jubilee Party launch were seen as a deliberate change of tack to pacify Wiper.

On Saturday, Dr Mutua said: “I am still a member of Wiper until the next General Election. But that should not stop me from ensuring that I have a vehicle for re-election because Wiper will rig me out.”

According to Dr Temi Mutia, a consultant and lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University, Dr Mutua’s moves signal a willingness to reconcile with the party that sponsored his election in 2013.

POLITICAL DIRECTION

Two weeks ago, MPs Joe Mutambu (Mwingi Central), Kisoi Munyao (Mbooni), Francis Mwangangi (Yatta) and Richard Makenga (Kaiti) surprised many people when they issued an ultimatum to Mr Musyoka to convene an urgent leaders’ meeting to discuss the Kamba community’s political direction.

Mr Munyao said they reached out to the former VP out of courtesy as a senior leader to discuss why they were leaving his party and possibly chart a common political direction for the community.

“We recognise Mr Musyoka’s standing as the senior-most leader from the region. There is nothing wrong in engaging him in dialogue on issues affecting the community,” he said.

But the move was widely viewed as a direct acknowledgement of Mr Musyoka as the undisputed political kingpin of Ukambani and the main obstacle to their re-election, hence the need to mend fences with him.

Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka described the ultimatum as a blunder that had exposed his colleagues as indecisive, adding that it had embarrassed even the Jubilee leadership.

Mr Munyaka of CCU said: “In any marriage, if you divorce someone you look stupid and indecisive. The more so if you start asking for permission to go dress your ex-partner’s bed or cook for them,” he said.

Mr Musyoka’s close allies claim the MPs’ defection to Jubilee was inconsequential. Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior and Kitui Rural MP Charles Nyamai said the defectors had little chance of getting re-elected because the community feels they were driven only by selfish interests.  Mr Nyamai said the plan to split the Kamba vote was doomed to fail.

The President and his Deputy have in the past few months made several trips to the region, dishing out goodies to shore up their support in the community.

In the last presidential contest, Jubilee garnered 89,064 votes in the region’s Machakos, Kitui and Makueni counties against 768,025 votes for Cord candidates Raila Odinga and Mr Musyoka.