Hosea Kiplagat's defection to ODM from Kanu aptly captures the adage that politics makes of strange bed fellows. But wait a minute. Politicians being the scoundrels per excellence the are, ODM brigade may be advised not to pop champagne yet.
Anybody familiar with Rift Valley politics and Moi's in particular cannot buy easily the idea of his CONFIDANT abandoning his master no matter what. During Moi's presidency Hongkong as close buddies called Hosea was the defacto MP for Baringo Central. While Kulei ran business errands, Kiplagat was Moi's eyes and eyes on the nitty gritty and on the ground.
It took Moi's personal intervention to persuade Hosea from contesting Baringo Central seat in 2002 in favour of his son, Gideon. It therefore comes as a real SHOCKER to see Moi's righthand man back Raila whom the ex-president has no good word for. In all this charade and apparent conquest their may lie a catch/trap and a big one.
Two lessons can be derived from recent events that has witnessed Moi's close confidants in the North and South Rift Valley troop to ODM. Either Moi's former blue-eyed boys have come to the realization that they have lives to live own their own, or ODM is busy fattening the serpent from within.
Payback time
If Hosea were to vie then that would be One more political enemy (read opponent) too many. After loudly falling out with Kulei, Gedion must brace himself for a duel of his life come December elections. That Hosea is his blood relation even muddies the political water more. What is more. Being senior Moi's political pointman, the locals regard him so highly and associate most developments to him. His local network would cause Giddy nightmares.
But either way, politics scores are premised more on perception than reason and reality. ODM's coup is massive even if its value remains sentimental. The psychological war may just work in creating motions than translate into real movements. One hopes they leave nothing to any trace of naivety lest they inadvertently hand over their political goose to the alley cat.
Taabu, although you accused me of being imaginative, I think you are taking this "defection watch" mandate too far in your fertile imagination.
ReplyDeleteFirst of, what right do you have to question the democratic choice of any individual, his past relations with the Moi regime notwithstanding?
You conveniently forget the Hosea Kiplagat was officially the Co-operative Bank Chairman of the Board for many years, and together with his Managing Director, now firmly in PNU - one Mr. Erastus Mureithi - expanded the bank to an unprecedented scale. Both gentlemen, I believe, retain their democratic right to any political cause.
That aside, Kibaki was Moi's VP for close to a decade but I would not pass judgement on PNU just because of that. If association with Moi or KANU was to be used as a yardstick for measuring political leadership, then I doubt we would have any leaders left in Kenya today. The whole crowd at PNU were Moi's cheerleaders just over a decade and half ago.
I know Vikii will be quick to rush and point out the same for ODM Pentagon - which he secretly admires but will not admit. But let me stop him in his tracks with this statement. Ruto, Raila, Nyagah or even Balala were cabinet ministers and a low cadre KANU officials during THE MULTI-PARTY ERA and for a much shorter period than the Kibakis, Kalonzos, Kamothos of this world - who presided over Kenyans during using the single party dictatorship and committed unimaginable atrocities against the people of this country.
Meanwhile Taabu, is your imaginative 'defection watch' microscope scanning the entire political horizon or just the ODM? For instance, Kipruto Kirwa and Prof. Ruth Oniango, cabinet and shadow ministers respectively defected to FORD Kenya, which stangely enough will not be fielding any candidates, but blindly supporting the candidature of a very disastrous regime? What do you have to say about that HUH!?
Which Co-op bank did you say he expanded or grew? DO YOU MEAN THE BANK IN HIS HOUSE? You must be the only one who doesnt know THE THIEF. birds of the same feather...
ReplyDeleteOnce again, Phil doesn't have an idea of what he is talking about.
ReplyDeleteKalonzo Musyoka was Moi's minister for ten years. Musalia Mudavadi was Moi's minister for fifteen years. Musalia Mudavadi was vice president for three months. I know Phil doesnt know it but I will educate him--Musalia Mudavadi was the deputy leader of government business in parliament (Which is the equivalent of deputy vice president) between 1993 and 2002. He is today a very senior man in the ODM.
"Ruto, Raila, Nyagah or even Balala were cabinet ministers and a low cadre KANU officials during THE MULTI-PARTY ERA and for a much shorter period than the Kibakis, Kalonzos, Kamothos of this world - who presided over Kenyans during using the single party dictatorship and committed unimaginable atrocities against the people of this country."----That was a strange one. While I agree that Nyaga's and Balala's integrity may be comparable to that of Kalonzo and Kibaki, i find the comparison of the latter two with Ruto and Raila Odinga an insult. For heavens sake Raila and Ruto are suspects of land grabbing (You just need to read the Ndung'u report Phil and you will understand why you dont have enough land for your sugar cane). In fact William Ruto has CASES pending in court. Musalia Mudavadi was a protagonist in the country's biggest economic scandal (Goldenberg). I have tried to understand your argument with zero success. It doesnt make sense even to someone like Kalamari.
If Mwai Kibaki committed "unimaginable atrocities" against the Kenyan people, what did Charles Njonjo do? What did William Ole Ntimama and Henry Kosgei do? What did Raila Odinga, a well known conman, do? Obviously the Mollasses scandal is a nuisance to you, but we want answers to some of these questions. Quote me one incident when Mwai Kibaki, despite being a very powerful man for over forty years, used his power against his political opponents and I will quote you a hundred times when Raila unleashed GSU men on political opponents. I will quote you a hundred other times when he and his cronies unleash goons on everyone who gives him a political scare. I mean, I am surprised you would consider someone with Idd Aminish traits a presidential material. This fellow should be in jail, not in places where people are discussing leadership.
On the same breadth, I ask you to do a comparative analysis of the persons of Kalonzo and Raila Odinga. Who according to you passes the integrity test? Ask anyone who is not a fanatic of either of them (a neutral person) and they will tell you to stop comparing heaven and hell. Read all corruption reports in Kenya today and you will not a find the name of Kalonzo Musyoka in any of them. He is as clean as milk. I mean what I say and when I tell you that I will be voting for someone with unparalled integrity, I mean it. I have questions for Raila Odinga, questions he will never be able to provide convincing answers for.
Finally, if Kalonzo, Kibaki and Kamotho committed unimaginable atrocities against Kenyans, what did William Ruto, sally Kosgei, Hosea kiplagat, Tony Gachoka do? Mr. Phil, you are yet to convince me why 95% of the ODM leadership should not be rotting in jail as we talk.
Clean as milk.......did I hear you right?
ReplyDeleteWho was responsible for the beginning of Ken Matiba's problems in Kiharu KANU sub-branch in the late 1980s? Ken Matiba is today a stark reminder of the brutal dictatorship that your Kalonzo and company masterminded against innocent Kenyans.
Who was minister for education when the 8-4-4 system of education was being implemented - to produce half baked students?
Who was minister for foreign affairs when the al qaeda established terrorist cells along the Kenyan coast?
Or when fugitive Abdullah Ocalan was arrested by Turkish special agents on Kenyan soil?
Or when one Felicien Kabuga was establishing his Kenyan base while master minding the murder of hundreds of thousands of Rwandese peasants from his Nairobi base and being issued with a red kenyan diplomatic passport?
Hii ni kionjo tu. Mambo ya kuiba shamba ama kufanya uchawi sita sema leo. Naomba radhi.
Vikii my broda, enda pole pole. Azma ya wazalendo kuelekea jumba la taifa lime wadia.