For refusal to disband Narc-Kenya, Karua will face the wrath of Jubilee machinery

Deputy President William Ruto greets Martha Karua upon his arrival in Kirinyaga County on November 29, 2016. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • A story is told of how, ahead of the 2013 election, a Kenyatta sibling was dispatched to persuade Karua to go easy on the Prince. The ploy didn’t work.
  • And so, Karua and her party will face the full machinery of Jubilee in Kirinyaga come the election.

I like Martha Karua. She is principled and tough.

It is a pity her aspiration to become Kirinyaga county governor will not bear fruit.

Not in 2017. For her to win, she will have to dump her Narc-Kenya party and join Jubilee.

That is not something she is going to do. More fickle candidates who stood on other parties in the Mt Kenya region are rapidly shedding them off and wrapping themselves in Jubilee colours.

Not so Martha Wangari Karua. It is not her style.

Locals like and admire her nonetheless. They know her well as Gichugu MP from 1992 to 2013.

And, indeed, she has some sterling traits. There has been no whiff of personal corruption during her career, even when she was a Cabinet insider in the Mwai Kibaki government.

Sadly, her integrity alone will not get her elected governor.

Were Karua to change her mind about Narc-Kenya, the direction of the Kirinyaga gubernatorial race would change radically. Don’t expect her to bend, however.

By all accounts, her relationship with President Kenyatta is a complicated one.

Reportedly, the Head of State personally holds her in high regard, though there are many who interpret her failure to reciprocate to mean contempt.

A story is told of how, ahead of the 2013 election, a Kenyatta sibling was dispatched to persuade Karua to go easy on the Prince. The ploy didn’t work.

Yet for her to now say, with all the hedging, that she is not opposed to Kenyatta’s re-election, is a very significant climb down on her part.

WAIGURU'S PLACE
If Jubilee wanted to be magnanimous, it would waive its right to field a gubernatorial candidate in Kirinyaga and thus give Karua a pass.

This won’t happen, though. It would allow a precedent Jubilee is loath to cede.

And so, Karua and her party will face the full machinery of Jubilee in Kirinyaga come the election.

An entirely different contest awaits Anne Mumbi Waiguru.

The lady who has come to be universally associated with the shenanigans at the National Youth Service (NYS) did an unusual manoeuvre when joining Jubilee.

She made a very public show of coming through TNA – as a Golden member – despite the party being in the process of folding up.

There was a very loaded message being sent out.

The declared aspirants, who include the current governor Joseph Ndathi and Kirinyaga Central MP Gachoki Gitari, will die to capitalise on the NYS saga.

The tag of mwizi will be brought up – never mind that Waiguru has not been indicted for the disappearance of NYS money.

As a campaign theme, the NYS saga will get great traction nationally. In Kirinyaga, voters may just shrug it off.

If Waiguru doesn’t become Kirinyaga governor, it will not be because of the NYS heist.

This will have minimal bearing on her prospects.

PLAYING FIELD

Even if it is proved that she stole the loot from the NYS, it may not dent her local support.

It’s the nature of how our politics is. As long as there is the impression that she remains in good books with State House, she is home and dry.

Those connections – real or perceived – are what will matter, much as the President is at pains to insist the playing ground will be level.

When Waiguru once faced a no-confidence motion in Parliament as minister, a very senior Kenyatta family member called in a group of select women MPs to her Nairobi residence to lobby them on her behalf. The motion eventually flopped.

My bet is the two Kirinyaga ladies will not want to target each other directly, which they know the media is salivating for.

Instead, they will want to train their guns on the incumbent’s record as they circle each other.

But in the eventuality Waiguru wins the Jubilee nomination, Karua will no longer be able to ignore her. Expect the fun to begin from there.

* * *
People really need to know when to mind their own business.

Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago has enough problems on his plate than to go around snooping with a wet snout on who is being installed an elder where.

It is very bad manners to intrude into private community matters that don’t concern you.

And why rope in security organs which don’t report to you?

This is the same Mandago who shamelessly went poking his nose into the affairs of Moi University in Eldoret because a non-Nandi had been appointed to lead the institution.

These meddlesome, off-putting types are a hazard to society.