A cocktail of contradictions; May the real Kabando wa Kabando please stand up!
By People Daily, July 6, 2021By MUTHONI NGUNJIRI
Is Kabando wa Kabando sick? If so what ails him? More importantly is the disease political or economic? Can it be cured?
Since President Uhuru failed to appoint Kabando wa Kabando into Cabinet, after failing to recapture his Mukurweini seat in 2017, Kabando has become vicious, vindictive, craven, untrustworthy and a braggart. Kabando has a personal vendetta against President Uhuru which is no longer a secret.
A once shrewd political strategist and a key point man in the politics of Mt Kenya region, Kabando’s political opulence seems to be diminishing, leaving his political career in fiascoes.
A number of Kenyans, particularly those from Mt Kenya, claim that the appointment of Mutahi Kagwe as Health CS drove a wedge between Kabando and the President.
An assistant minister in Kibaki’s government, Kabando has become a thorn into the flesh of Uhuru’s administration in the recent past with his Twitter handle boiling with a barrage of criticism and punching lines.
Kabando has changed tune on Deputy President William Ruto whom he had earlier described as a the leader of a gluttonous cartel in Jubilee government that needed to be uprooted.
“Our President must crack the whip and drop the ruinous and gluttonous cartel off the radar” the MP said at that moment.
Kabando, in another jab at Ruto referred to UhuRuto as unholy but inventible alliance due to the violence that bedeviled the country prior to 2013 elections.
“As has been said and proved before, UhuRuto was a poisoned chalice, but a necessity in the face of the conspiracies of the day.” he wrote
Kabando however has since joined the chorale praising DP Ruto’s hustler narrative in high-octanes.
Weirder still were reports that the former legislator claimed that Ruto’s hustler narrative was growing in Mount Kenya region because President Uhuru had neglected his people
Uhuru has rolled out mega projects in Mt Kenya region, with some already complete. Recently, Uhuru commissioned construction of the Sh30 billion Kenol-Makutano-Sagana-Karatina-Marua highways, 84km of the Great Northern Highway and Sh27 billion Mau Mau cluster network connecting Nyeri, Murang’a, Nyandarua and Kiambu counties, a stretch of 540km. In Kiambu County, backyard roads under construction include 45km Mau Mau spur roads in Gatundu North and 30km in Gatundu South.
The angry politician seems to have also thrown Raila Odinga under the bus even after praising the Uhuru-Raila Handshake vehemently.
When Raila Odinga spoke about Uhuru’s projects initiated and launched in Kisumu during Madaraka day fete, Kabando jumped on it pouring his vitriol.
“Every region deserves prosperity. Sir, you’re entrapped in a problem of PERCEPTION: they’ve depicted you ‘inspector’ of Kisumu only, reducing it to “Luo” projects, which you’re NOT.” He wrote on Twitter.
Kabando was among those who had called for a dialogue between Uhuru and Raila following the controversial August 8, 2017 presidential election. When the Handshake happened in 2018, Kabando welcomed the two leaders’ gesture saying it will go a long way in addressing the political animosity in the country.
But all that changed after the Cabinet formation.
Kabando first came to national light when he was elected as chairman of the Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) in 1992. He changed his name Geoffrey Kariuki Mwangi to Kabando wa Kabando to conceal his ethnicity at the period since the then President Moi was the Chancellor to the University and he was very interested in campus leadership.
Celebrated lawyer Donald Kipkorir, who has known Kabando for over 30 years, recently took to twitter to disapprove Kabando latest behaviour indicating that he is digging his own political grave.
“.. I saw him as part of the future of new Kenya. But he now spends all his time alternating btw abusing Uhuru or spreading Railaphobia! Truly Sad & Tragic! “@DonaldBKipkorir
It is wrong for Kabando to knowingly engage in ethnic politics and balkanization and undermine the government he helped create.
Nobody knows which way Kabando will jump next, but the self-styled political strategist does not seem to have absorbed that loyalty is part of the glue that holds relationships together in times of difficulty.
Ms Ngunjiri is an economist and political analyst. mumbi403@gmail.com