Last Saturday, women from all parts of the country assembled at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) in Kakamega to discuss pertinent issues.
Among other topics, the conference was to address the rise in teen pregnancies, forced marriages, girl-child school drop-outs, unemployment, two-thirds gender representation and healthcare.
But the meeting did not end without sore spectacles. First, it was invaded by male politicians who attempted to convert it into their own.
Second, the visiting male politicians tried to turn it into a supremacy war, both at local and national levels, between the ruling Kenya Kwanza alliance and the Opposition Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition.
Worst of them was the heckling down of some politicians by a section of women on partisan grounds. Thus, what should have been a noble gathering was reduced to a petty, flexing-of-muscles contest between rival politicians. And, unfortunately, the politicians did not address the issues the women had converged to discuss.
The Saturday heckling was, however, not new in the region.
Over the years, the Western Kenya, which is largely inhabited by the populous Luhyia community, has had the misfortune of siring leaders who cherish drama and all manner of trivia at the expense of development and regional unity.
Rarely do leaders from the region congregate to focus on the plight of their subjects. On the rare occasions they do, the leaders tough it out to promote the political clout of allied politicians from other regions and never those from their own backyard.
For years on end, Western leaders have unashamedly practised self-debasing politics with much glee and gusto.
During the campaigns ahead of the last August 9 elections, United Democratic Alliance party leader William Ruto signed a memorandum of understanding with then-Amani National Congress counterpart Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya’s Moses Wetang’ula detailing their reward basket should they back his Kenya Kwanza Alliance and help it win the highly-contested polls.
Win they did, and Mudavadi rewarded with the Prime Cabinet Secretary post and Wetang’ula Speaker of the National Assembly.
In their pre-election pact, the three leaders agreed to ensure Western gets 30 per cent of all national resources that would be distributed, and the same percentage of State appointments and recruitments.
They also agreed that stalled economic projects in the area would be revived and over 1,000km of road would be tarmacked.
Are these not the issues leaders from Western should be pushing the government to deliver, instead of going to a conference to provoke heckling from women leaders?
During the regime of President Kibaki (now deceased), leaders from Western, headed by Mudavadi who was then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Authorities, met at this same university under the aegis of Western Province Investments Conference (WEPIC) and came up with a massive blueprint on how to propel the region to greater economic heights.
Shouldn’t these be the issues leaders from the region ought to be pursuing?
Storming women’s meetings to trigger heckling and mayhem is not the hallmark of quality leadership. It is the epitome of pettiness and political hollowness.
Mudavadi, Wetangula and the five governors from the region must — of essence — put their heads together and chart a path that will take the region to a sound political path and meaningful economic trajectory.
Intruding women’s meetings with a view to hijack the agenda is primitive. No leader worth their salt should stoop that low.
The author is People Daily’s Revise Editor — [email protected]
