The Pentagon members. Only two are serving in Jubilee. [Photo: Pentagon_Standard Digital]
In 2005, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was formed to help the opposition, led by Raila Odinga, take the government in the 2007 elections.
This was after a bitter fallout with the then Narc government led by Mwai Kibaki. Raila, the opposition figurehead, was pushing to take charge of the country after Kibaki ‘betrayed’ a memorandum they had signed in 2002.The ODM leader and other principals formed what was unveiled as the Pentagon which came up with ODM which was to be used in the elections only two years away.Among the Pentagon members was also the party’s co-founding member Najib Balala.Born in 1967, Balala is the current tourism CS who has used diplomacy in reviving the tourism sector.Balala was the Mayor of Mombasa in 1998 – 1999 after which he vied for the Mvita Constituency seat and won in 2002. He was re-elected to represent the same area from 2007- 2012.In 2012, Balala founded the Republican Congress Party of Kenya but he managed to join the Jubilee government after the 2013 election.
He and Charity Ngilu had joined the UhuRuto duo months to the election in a wave that saw the president and his deputy coalesce their support from different parts of the country.Balala was appointed Mining Cabinet Secretary in May 2013. In 2015, he was moved to the Tourism docket in a reshuffle that saw Ngilu and other CS’ dropped in a move meant to show the president’s commitment to fighting corruption in his government.He has held different dockets in consecutive governments ranging from the Minister for Natural Heritage, Labour and Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services.Balala and DP William Ruto are the only two members from the Pentagon’s Musalia Mudavadi, Joe Nyaga, Charity Ngilu and Raila Odinga who are serving in government.