Kalonzo Musyoka is among the favorites to wrestle power from president Kibaki in the elections slotted for December this year, but the big question among many Kenyans in the know, is how will the erstwhile Musyoka finance his presidential campaign?
It is an open secret in Kenya that in spite of Musyoka having served in the corrupt, plundering regime of president Moi for over two decades, the former foreign affairs minister did not mint millions like his cabinet colleagues, the likes of Nicholas Biwott and William Ruto who amassed fortunes through corruption. That is propably a plus in his character, only that keen observers insist that the reason was that he was never given the opportunity.
Musyoka is not a rich man by the standards of the political class and his biggest dilemma to date is if he loses the ODM Kenya presidential nominations and decides to contest the presidency as an independent, where will he get the funding to bankroll his presidential campaign?
Kalonzo has been burning the mid night oil as he embarks on several fund raising ventures including establishing a foundation and seeking assistance from foreigners to globetrotting around Europe and America and soliciting funds from Kenyans living abroad.
This has not yielded much fruit as he has found out that Kenyans living abroad do not have that much money so as to spare some for local politicians to make their dreams come true. In a visit to America last year, Musyoka was taken to task by Kenyans who told him on the face that they thought the Kalonzo Musyoka foundation was to assist the less fortunate and not a vehicle for raising funds for his presidential campaign. Musyoka had asked his compatriots to donate generously to his foundation as he launches his presidential bid.
The man who has been given the Herculean task to coordinate Musyoka's fundraising abroad is one professor Timothy Kaloki who was also the brains behind Musyoka's recent blue print on how his presidency will change the lives of Kenyans who are wallowing in abject poverty and squalor at the expense of the political class who earn obscene salaries and allowances drawn from public coffers.
Musyoka could boast of lots of foreign friends he made while he was foreign affairs minister in both Moi's and Kibaki's government but these contacts are yet to translate into cash as the election date nears.
Locally too, Kalonzo could boast of having very rich friends who could boost his campaign kitty but they are as limited as they are few and he will need more rich men to believe that he is capable of wrestling power from Kibaki who has so many rich friends that he could easily raise millions of dollars locally without breaking into a sweat. More so because he is the incumbent.
Among those who will surely contribute to Musyoka's campaign kitty and are worth mentioning is lawyer Mutula Kilonzo who made a fortune through Moi;s corruption networks as he was a lawyer to the former president and he is among the richest men in Kenya today. Another one is international gemstone dealer Johnson Muthama who rose from being a househelp cook to a gemstone dealer who quickly mastered the trade and made a tidy fortune from it.
These two men are from Kalonzo's Kamba community and they will surely back him as they are already showing signs of doing. Both see themselves as benefiting immensely from a Musyoka presidency.
Billionaire businessman John Harun Mwau is also from Musyoka's community but the two have not being seeing eye to eye for the past decade but since there are no permanent enemies in politics, Mwau may just choose to forget the past and finance Musyoka if he is convinced that he could be the next president of Kenya. A reader in the Mashada forum has already claimed as much , although we are yet to verify this as being a fact. The truth is that given the bitter past of the two, it is much more likely that Mwau will fight Kalonzo, rather than support him.
Winston Churchill once said 24 hours can be a very long time in politics and if this is true, then Kalonzo Musyoka could be having more than enough time to look for the necessary funds as the elections are over 11 months away.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Kalonzo Musyoka You Don't Know Part IV: Witchcraft And Dark Forces
When Musikari Kombo was found guilty of committing an election offence in 1992 by consulting a witch doctor and engaging in superstitious activities prior to the elections that year, many Kenyans were taken aback but little did they realize that almost all members of parliament do this ahead of polls.
Kombo who was later elected as Ford Kenya leader after the death of Michael Kijana Wamalwa is known to come from the Bukusu sub tribe of the Luhyia community who are notorious for believing in witchcraft and in spite of going to church during the day, many of them usually engage in cult activities when the sun sets.
The Webuye MP is not the only presidential aspirant who regularly consults supernatural beings in the dead of the night as most of them are not leaving anything to chance including the so-called God-fearing Mwingi North MP and a hot favorite for the presidency, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka.
Musyoka hails from the Kamba community who are also well known for their belief in witchcraft not to mention that Musyoka's father is a powerful witchdoctor who lives alone in a tiny island along some river where it is said that all visitors have to strip naked when they visit him as one is prohibited to set foot on the island with their clothes on.
According to popular belief in the area, one is capable of hiding evil spirits or witchcraft paraphernalia under their clothes hence the rule of stripping naked when visiting a top witchdoctor.
Musyoka claims to be a strong adherent of the African Inland Church and will never miss a church service on Sunday but those who know him well say they have never met a public figure as superstitious as the soft-speaking Musyoka.
According to close allies of Musyoka , the presidential aspirant almost always travels in the company of another strong witchdoctor known as Wa Maiyo who passes as a nominated councilor from the Mwingi town council and an entertainer of sorts who has the gift of composing and singing political tunes in Musyoka's functions.
Wa Maiyo is respected and feared so much by Kalonzo's allies that some of Musyoka's close friends will not dare interrupt a conversation between Musyoka and the towering middle aged man who carries a walking stick with him all the time though he enjoys good health and has no problems with mobility.
According to those who have been closely following Musyoka's movements, the diminutive presidential aspirant takes his orders from the witchdoctor and will always consult him about his diary and has on some occasions warned Musyoka not to visit some places as his life would be endangered.
Musyoka, a lawyer by profession is said to have been introduced to the world of witchcraft at an early age (because of his father) but in politics this was solidified by the late powerful Machakos Kanu branch chairman Mulu Mutisya who was also his political godfather.
It all started in the 1980s when Musyoka made it to parliament in a by-election resulting from the death of the local MP Peter Manandu who was shot dead in a bar by a rogue administration policeman under some very strange and yet to be explained circumstances.
The now deceased, Mulu Mutisya is said to have traveled all the way to Mwingi and met Musyoka, a young lawyer who was trying into make inroads to politics. Mutisya was impressed by the young man's demeanor and his patience even for someone illiterate as Mutisya who never saw the inside of a classroom.
Prior to the by elections, Mutisya informed Musyoka that one had to seek supernatural protection from witchdoctors so as to avoid being bewitched by rivals during political campaigns. Musyoka understood this only too well. After all his father is in that trade although Musyoka was known to be much closer to his mother who died last year and barely spent anytime with his father who is still alive.
Musyoka is said to regularly consult these men of the night including a prominent witchdoctor who resides along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway known as Dr Willy who also doubled up as the late Mulu Mutisya's witchdoctor and seer. Those who consult him say that he is able to read one's future using his supernatural powers.
Just to show how politicians, especially those from Ukambani, are so deeply entrenched in witchcraft, when the late Yatta MP John Mutiso died after his car was swept by floods on his way home, among those in the ill-fated vehicle was a female witchdoctor and her paraphernalia who also died in the deluge.
It was later established that the woman was going to the MPs home to cleanse it from evil spirits ahead of a party that the legislator was hosting the following day to celebrate his victory to parliament.
When the local press broke the story a few days later, it is instructive that it was Kalonzo Musyoka himself (Mr President-to-be) who marshaled all the MPs from Ukambani to deny the story and dismissed any witchcraft link to the legislator's death. Musyoka also hit back hard at the media for portraying the Akamba as a superstitious people.
An interesting aside here is the fact that Kamba MPs do not like being linked to witchcraft any journalist who tries to do so will usually be treading on very dangerous ground indeed.
Musyoka's name came up in yet another witchcraft incident when former PS in the President's office Prof Philip Mbithi claimed that he was attacked by invisible beings while at his office in Harambee House. He blamed Kalonzo Musyoka and the late Mulu Mutisya for the attack (Read the full story for yourself).
It is evident that presidential aspirants, Musikari Kombo and Kalonzo Musyoka will not only pray to God as they go for the highest office in the land but are bound to also rely heavily on the so-called dark forces in their bid to convince Kenyans that they are the most suitable candidates to take over from president Kibaki.
The Final Part of The Kalonzo Musyoka You Do Not Know series will be published on Monday. Don't miss it.
Kombo who was later elected as Ford Kenya leader after the death of Michael Kijana Wamalwa is known to come from the Bukusu sub tribe of the Luhyia community who are notorious for believing in witchcraft and in spite of going to church during the day, many of them usually engage in cult activities when the sun sets.
The Webuye MP is not the only presidential aspirant who regularly consults supernatural beings in the dead of the night as most of them are not leaving anything to chance including the so-called God-fearing Mwingi North MP and a hot favorite for the presidency, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka.
Musyoka hails from the Kamba community who are also well known for their belief in witchcraft not to mention that Musyoka's father is a powerful witchdoctor who lives alone in a tiny island along some river where it is said that all visitors have to strip naked when they visit him as one is prohibited to set foot on the island with their clothes on.
According to popular belief in the area, one is capable of hiding evil spirits or witchcraft paraphernalia under their clothes hence the rule of stripping naked when visiting a top witchdoctor.
Musyoka claims to be a strong adherent of the African Inland Church and will never miss a church service on Sunday but those who know him well say they have never met a public figure as superstitious as the soft-speaking Musyoka.
According to close allies of Musyoka , the presidential aspirant almost always travels in the company of another strong witchdoctor known as Wa Maiyo who passes as a nominated councilor from the Mwingi town council and an entertainer of sorts who has the gift of composing and singing political tunes in Musyoka's functions.
Wa Maiyo is respected and feared so much by Kalonzo's allies that some of Musyoka's close friends will not dare interrupt a conversation between Musyoka and the towering middle aged man who carries a walking stick with him all the time though he enjoys good health and has no problems with mobility.
According to those who have been closely following Musyoka's movements, the diminutive presidential aspirant takes his orders from the witchdoctor and will always consult him about his diary and has on some occasions warned Musyoka not to visit some places as his life would be endangered.
Musyoka, a lawyer by profession is said to have been introduced to the world of witchcraft at an early age (because of his father) but in politics this was solidified by the late powerful Machakos Kanu branch chairman Mulu Mutisya who was also his political godfather.
It all started in the 1980s when Musyoka made it to parliament in a by-election resulting from the death of the local MP Peter Manandu who was shot dead in a bar by a rogue administration policeman under some very strange and yet to be explained circumstances.
The now deceased, Mulu Mutisya is said to have traveled all the way to Mwingi and met Musyoka, a young lawyer who was trying into make inroads to politics. Mutisya was impressed by the young man's demeanor and his patience even for someone illiterate as Mutisya who never saw the inside of a classroom.
Prior to the by elections, Mutisya informed Musyoka that one had to seek supernatural protection from witchdoctors so as to avoid being bewitched by rivals during political campaigns. Musyoka understood this only too well. After all his father is in that trade although Musyoka was known to be much closer to his mother who died last year and barely spent anytime with his father who is still alive.
Musyoka is said to regularly consult these men of the night including a prominent witchdoctor who resides along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway known as Dr Willy who also doubled up as the late Mulu Mutisya's witchdoctor and seer. Those who consult him say that he is able to read one's future using his supernatural powers.
Just to show how politicians, especially those from Ukambani, are so deeply entrenched in witchcraft, when the late Yatta MP John Mutiso died after his car was swept by floods on his way home, among those in the ill-fated vehicle was a female witchdoctor and her paraphernalia who also died in the deluge.
It was later established that the woman was going to the MPs home to cleanse it from evil spirits ahead of a party that the legislator was hosting the following day to celebrate his victory to parliament.
When the local press broke the story a few days later, it is instructive that it was Kalonzo Musyoka himself (Mr President-to-be) who marshaled all the MPs from Ukambani to deny the story and dismissed any witchcraft link to the legislator's death. Musyoka also hit back hard at the media for portraying the Akamba as a superstitious people.
An interesting aside here is the fact that Kamba MPs do not like being linked to witchcraft any journalist who tries to do so will usually be treading on very dangerous ground indeed.
Musyoka's name came up in yet another witchcraft incident when former PS in the President's office Prof Philip Mbithi claimed that he was attacked by invisible beings while at his office in Harambee House. He blamed Kalonzo Musyoka and the late Mulu Mutisya for the attack (Read the full story for yourself).
It is evident that presidential aspirants, Musikari Kombo and Kalonzo Musyoka will not only pray to God as they go for the highest office in the land but are bound to also rely heavily on the so-called dark forces in their bid to convince Kenyans that they are the most suitable candidates to take over from president Kibaki.
The Final Part of The Kalonzo Musyoka You Do Not Know series will be published on Monday. Don't miss it.
Home Page Kumekucha Daily 11h Jan 2007
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What Was Moi Meeting Kibaki About, This Time Round?
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