Deputy President William Ruto greets NASA principal Moses Wetangula. [Photo/ Courtesy of DP Ruto]
Politics is a game where individual and party interests take centre stage. As such, interests change from time to time and that’s just how politicians change allegiances.
A keen look at the Kenyan political arena and the players involved shows that politicians have no bad blood between them; they go with the side where their bread will be well buttered. It is, therefore, an open secret that politicians world over change allegiances to suit their interests. It is no wonder that the mantra in politics is: there are no permanent friends or foes in politics; only interests are permanent.
In Kenya’s political scene, politicians are loud and would do anything to get noticed. And when they do, they are likely to leave wananchi divided along party and tribal lines as they seek to endear themselves to their new-few found allegiances.
A case in point is outlawed NRM leader Miguna Miguna who had vowed never to work with Raila Odinga again but went on to preside over the latter’s swearing-in at Uhuru Park. Prior to this, Miguna had castigated Raila describing him as one lacking in leadership and managerial skills to run a country.
Today, Miguna is the darling of NRM supporters after he found his way back to Baba’s stable.Appropriately, Miguna may have reasoned that singing “Baba tosha” was the surest way of resuscitating his political hopes after the bitter fallout sometime in 2011. What of the current Kisumu County Speaker Onyango Oloo who shifted to NASA camp after a long dalliance with President Uhuru’s The National Alliance Party (TNA).
The same shock greeted Kenyans when former MP Ababu Namwamba resigned as ODM Secretary-General and joined Jubilee Party to campaign for UhuRuto’s re-election.The same Namwamba had vowed in 2007 that he would be the last person to abandon Raila.
That said, one must be dead from the neck up to take politicians serious when they blast each other in public as it happened the other day when Deputy President William Ruto met with Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetangula during the burial of Yvonne Wamalwa.
The deputy president tore into Wetang’ula for what he termed as opposition’s plan to cause anarchy in the country. However, he made it very clear that the Bungoma Senator was his friend.Do the two share some history? Yes they do.
It must be noted that before 1997, Ruto and Wetang’ula were in KANU together. Between 1993 and 1997, Wetang’ula was KANU nominated MP. Between 2003 to 2007, he was in Mwai Kibaki’s government where he earned Kibaki’s trust while Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta were in the opposition.
2008 onwards Ruto and Wetang’ula were both in Kibaki government.And what’s more NASA leader Raila Odinga and Uhuru were at one point in opposition where they vehemently opposed the proposed constitution famously nicknamed “Wako Draft” during the 2005 referendum.
This, therefore, shows there is no need for any Kenyan to hate another just because of politicians who will readily cross ranks when pursuing their interests as it happens when they are pursuing own interests like hefty perks.