The politics of Nabutundu is not equivalent to tumbocracy. Nabutundu politics is not just a selfish nor vain quest. It’s the political equivalent of the concept of BATNA – Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement.
The fierce sibling rivalry within NASA, playing to the public gallery didn’t start today. Neither will it end with Raila’s ODM brigade betrayal of Moses Masika Wetang’ula. Why would kindred souls, at least they made us believe, be out on the hunt for each others neck? Why can’t the Luhya unite? We blame it all on the curse of the politics of nabutundu. The love for nabutundu has seen those keen on Luhya votes perpetually exploit this phenomenon to shortchange sons of Mulembe. Still, nabutundu is a good tactic. But a bad strategy.
BATTLE FOR LUHYA VOTES: A GAME OF BETRAYAL
To complicate an already dire situation within NASA , Jubilee and the vultures have already planted seeds. Seeds like that of the infamous Msunzu tree. A seed so virulent that its seeds are immune to the cannibalism necessary to attain equilibrium in nature. Because they thrive even in the shade of the parent tree. Seeds like Ababu Namabwa who during the 2017 campaigns did a good job shoveling propaganda to bury NASA’s chief campaigner Wycliffe Mudavadi. Or Phillip Etale and the rest who’d rather fan amashiga, cooking fire, in their neighbor’s home than kill the fire consuming their homestead.
Will Jubilee’s Seeds Bear Children?
Dormant seeds of the mold of Marende, Chanzu and Akaranga who it appeared had made fatal political moves in joining Jubilee. My grandmother always reminded her children to be like Job of Uz. For most of these leading lights in mulembe politics, It must feel like how it felt for Job of Uz when things turned the corner.
The pungent air of being vindicated must be choking the households of this gang. Kukas who had shamefully earned the tag tumbocrats. With Baba in bed with Jubilee, their choice to ‘work with Jubilee for development’ is a shade less incriminating in the eyes of sections of Mulembe voters who, to be honest, had taken a deep liking for Baba. Today, never before has the Luhya saying: shienyu ni shienyu found so much meaning.
This is even before considering alliances in the last elections seeking the Luhya vote. We had the Wamalwa – Ruto – Lusaka bromance . A threesome so tight that it could only be compared with the defiance of a Kenyan politician’s wife. That wife who stands by the side of her politician husband battling accusations of improper sexual liaisons. Defiant in the manner in which Hillary Diane Rodham stuck by Bill; Sitoki, sibanduki. That marriage of three is bound to rock in light of the impending tsunami of shifting alliances following that handshake by the steps of Harambee house.
Kufa na Kupona
On the other side, the Wetang’ula – Mudavadi tag team faces an acid test. For a son of Mulembe to leverage on millions of Luhya votes to state house, one of these sons of Ingo needs to be cut to size. The fact that Mudavadi’s ANC members seem to be fringe profiteers of the methodological decimation of the lion party of Kenya is the perfect throw of the dice.
Beyond that, for Wetang’ula and Mudavadi, it really is about cultivating victim hood in their political bases. Therefore, aggression against the other by either will be diabolical. Mudavadi needs Wetang’ula to stand so as to shield him – lest he becomes the target. Wetang’ula needs Mudavadi by his side as he fights to wrestle Bungoma from Jubilee and ODM.
Sibling Rivalry
The Swahili would dismiss the Abaami skirmishes that perennially occupy our public space as nothing more than sibling rivalry. Ukweli ni kuwa Ndungu wawili wakipigana, chukua jembe kaende shambani. Wakirudiana chukua kikapu ukavune. But Aesop, slave and storyteller, in ancient Greece advises otherwise in The Fable of the Fighting Bulls and the Frog .
This Aesop fable, is a story of two bulls fighting furiously in a field, at one side of which, is a marsh. An old frog living in the marsh, trembled as he watched the fierce battle. “What are you afraid of?” asked a young frog. “Do you not see,” replied the old frog, “That the bull who is beaten, will be driven away from the good forage to the reeds of this marsh, and we shall all be trampled into the mud?” It turned out as the frog had said. The beaten bull was driven to the marsh, where his great hoofs crushed the frogs to death.
Moral of the story? When the great fall out, the weak must suffer for it. We dismissed media reports of the Wetang’ula led Ford Kenya Party proclaiming a total lock down of Bungoma from ODM. We now appreciate the foresight. After the two bulls (NASA and Jubilee) tussle over Luhya votes, it’s the frogs in the mash (ANC and Ford Kenya) that face death.
Wetang’ula 3.0
It is accepted that all is fair in love and war. It’s not that Mudavadi, Wamalwa or Pius Tawfiq Ababu Namwamba can’t appreciate the gravity of the preceding statement. Far from it. It is only that Moses Masika Wetangula is your consummate nandeti we tosi ! He is the last of Luhya politicians that will stand in the mash, awaiting to be trampled on. But still, even when it gets dirty, he’ll emerge on the other side fresh and clean.
The rumored stab at Bungoma Governor by his brother Tim Wanyonyi , Westlands ODM Member of Parliament is one way for the Wetangulas to emerge clean. A difficult one, but a path nonetheless. A path that will force the Wetang’ulas to mend fences and rebuild Ford Kenya to pre-NARC and NARC levels where its ranks swelled with ministers and assistant ministers.
To do that, he needs to first relinquish his grip on the Bungoma senate seat. To Chezea juu as his former co-principles in CORD and NASA. The ‘Bull of Mukhweya’ should then employ his influence in supporting a candidate for senate. A candidate who can help mend bridges. Then start out by fishing the likes of Musikari Kombo as he grooms young upstarts like Governor Wangamati.
Building Bridges
Desist from the temptation of fighting the likes of Edwin Sifuna, ODM Secretary General. Rekindle and accept, respectively, the challenge of Wakoli Bifwoli and Eugene Wamalwa to lead the Bukusu charge for the presidency. Reignite the romance with Bumula’s Mwambu and court Kimilili’s Didmus. Heal the wounds of Jack Wamboka. Let Walukhe know that he is bro and bros don’t do that.
Speak for Sulemain Werunga and dance more to Steve Kay. Listen more to the likes of Collins Mukhongo. And give a voice to Catherine Wambilianga. Snitch for Lusaka in the senate. Challenge Mukhisa Kituyi to make that big post count now. In short, he should call the big family of Ford Kenya for a family reunion. Just like when Khuku summons us Ingo at Christmas to feast on her jogoos, some will honor the invitation others won’t. Some will regret their decision to come as other spit Kamasifwa in celebration.
Greatness, Starts With Respect.
What will stand though is that neighbors (the Kalenjin and Luo nations) will for many a nights chatter of the many cars that swirled around Khuku’s compound. They will amaze at the number of bulls slaughtered to fill the guests appetites. The young lads in their villages will fantasize for nights over the bevy of beauties in Khuku’s family – intimidated by what this show of might mean for their prospects of marrying in. That the family of xyz is alive and flourishing will be enough to earn that family respect.
Wetang’ula 3.0 will need every bit of Wetang’ula 1.0 : the consummate lawyer acting for Moi and nominated member working for KANU. Must leverage on Wetang’ula 2.0: the reformist , CORD principal and Raila co-commander-in-chief. Wetang’ula 3.0 must allow himself to be bigger than himself. Understandably, him being the man of the moment, we’ve fallen to the temptation of offering him unsolicited advise. But this is not about him. In fact, he could be the lesser of the problems facing those angling for the Luhya vote. The geography of the problem lies with partakers of Nabutundu.
THE POLITICS OF NABUTUNDU
Traditionally, in any Bukusu ceremony where an animal is slaughtered for whatever purpose, the offal are a preserve for the uninvited, unwanted, unwashed and/or unfashionable guests. Nabutundu is the cow’s abomasum. A perennial challenger for the Kimilili parliamentary seat , current Bungoma CEC for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives is the originator of this politically deadly refrain. A slogan that is brilliant in its use of the rich imagery of Lubukusu.
Makanda Mathews would persistently employ this rhetoric to hit at the previous Bungoma County administration. Makanda felt that his home area of Kimilili was sidelined. In that government, Kimilili had no appointments of note – CEC or otherwise. Surely, he posed: “Aren’t the people of Kimilili not even worthy of Nabutundu?” And so went on the Nabutundu dirge.
Elevating this rhetoric to the national scene yields comparative scenarios: CAS positions. Or Secretary General positions that float in the air, liable to gales and whirlwinds given that it has no roots, as the holders don’t have the people’s power. Deputy party leaders with no real chance of ascending. Leaders of arms of government whose claim to these positions is through tokenism.
The Butcher’s Daughter
True, we are at the big table with the big guys. But we sit at the fringes of the kings feast. We are allowed only to fill our plates after the King, his men and their concubines have helped themselves. Good tactic, poor strategy. I had a lady friend who couldn’t partake a meal unless it was accompanied with cows protein. She didn’t grow up privileged. It is only that her father was the village butcher. So they would always have a hoof there, an ox tail here served at dinner. These meats having been part, often full, payment for her oldman’s skill with the knife.
I wouldn’t fight the butcher’s children for having some meat so often. Lets not fight the butcher for feeding his brood that way. Brethren, lets help the butcher set up a butchery that we can all get our meat from. Tumjenge atujenge. Let all those with Nabutundu gather as much and bring it home. We will feast. And as any Mulembe family, as we prepare the food, as we eat and thereafter, we will talk about life.
As unimaginative Kenyan comedians continue to mistake our love for bonding with a love for eating, lets move with sureness towards the future.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: THIS IS HOW TO MAKE LUHYA VOTES COUNT
The people of Mulembe understandably want to be done with the 2017. In fact, they can’t wait for 2022. By all projections, the famed zima taa brews will keep decimating transformers yonder. That these kill me quick, finish-all-of-us brews have never found landing in the land of Babami and kamabongobongo can only bode well for Luhya votes arithmetic.
Moreover, by 2022, we will have tied all our loose ends: like mobilizing our kamabongobongo Luhya votes, addressing the ridiculously low number of women voters in Mulembe, by ensuring they get their national IDs. Most importantly, chiunwa chine chikhabuye esilongo: Mudavadi, Wetang’ula, Wamalwa and Ababu. They will, in the manner that bulls do at the famed Kakamega bullfights, have distinguished themselves.
By then we will have a clue as to who among them is the true Manso. The coward bull. Or Parado. The tired, apprehensive, wounded bull that’s liable to an attack. And finally, who among them is the Toro bravo/ toro de Lidia. The brave bull.
Kamasifwa!
We the people of Mulembe will call for a special meeting. Similar to the one held when reintegrating initiates after likembe among the Bukusu. When partaking this custom, initiates are asked to get into a hut whose door is left ajar. A person chosen by the community positions Lisielo liekhafu (sun-dried cow hide) at the entrance. It serves as a barrier between the initiates the rest of the community.
The elder tasked with the responsibility of debriefing the initiates is handed our beloved traditional brew, Busaa, in a special calabash. This elder then delivers life lessons. Stopping periodically to let these aspirations, our journey as a people sink in. He then sips on his brew and spits kamasifwa to solemnize the covenant at each juncture.
In similar vein, we the people of Mulembe will ask the four gentlemen to get into a room. We will then unleash elders on them. The likes of Wako, Kombo, Wangamati Snr, Wakoli, Akaranga, Gumo, Atwoli etc.
Nga basisikha chisekhe ne banyanya elomo. Khukhababite! The message on the deliberations will then be delivered by the wise Marende. Then Bonny Mutetezi, the bullfighter, will be allowed to take the stage and sing Hosana! By this account, Mulembe nation will then bless Kenya with one of theirs.