The true mark of greatness does not inhere in positions achieved but the legacy that one has bequeathed for future generations. It is time we handed out some tough love to the legion of presumptuous wannabees who think that they are the next big thing waiting to happen.
Lately, headlines have fixated on the Deputy Premier Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi simply because he declared in Kakamega that his name would be in the presidential polls in March 2013 and not because of any heroic or seismic act on his part.,
What a show! What a display! That moment witnessed Musalia crowing that he was severing links with the Orange Democratic Party, apparently because the party was intent on snookering him from running for the country's top seat. He believes ODM will exclusively tap the party leader, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to contest for president.
It is certainly Musalia's constitutional right to run for any public office but equally the electorate has the unalienable responsibility of scrutinizing and eventually passing moral judgment on people who seek public positions.
Unwittingly though, the electorate has at times surrendered its role of acting as vigilantes of character, allowing political scoundrels to enter as the people's representatives. This should not happen.
As Musalia hits the hustings, the spotlight will focus on his achievements since the hand-of-God tapped him in 1989 aged only 29 to inherit the Sabatia parliamentary seat once held by his late father Moses Sabstone Budamba Mudavadi.
Presently aged 52, Musalia continues to be burdened by the unenviable moniker that he is a creation of former President Daniel arap Moi, a leader who draws extreme feelings across the political divide. There was a close relationship between the Moi and Mudavadi household, as the older Mudavadi did get a consort from within the Moi backyard.
In the 2002 elections which saw Moi's KANU party unprecedentedly lose for the first time in 40 years, the Sabatia electorate red-carded former land economist Musalia for sticking with the sinking ship KANU.
Only after aligning himself with ODM during the constitution referendum in 2005 was Musalia rehabilitated into mainstream politics, going ahead to win back the Sabatia seat in 2007, when he ran as Raila's running mate. Increasingly the electorate will ask what political hue Musalia has been cut from.
Certainly he is not reformist and neither is he a stickler for progressive constitutionalism. He certainly is a political player who is lucky that the Kenyan electorate is forgiving to a fault.
He has ditched the ODM just as the party is about to consolidate the freedoms granted in the new constitution that abrogated the old order of the exectuive presidency. Has Musalia's conscience times pricked him on how much he as a political leader has contributed in furthering the country's democratic space.
Musalia is today arguably savouring the fruits of the struggle of people like Raila Odinga, Gitobu Imanyara, Masinde Muliro, Koigi Wa Wamwere, Kenneth Matiba, Jaramogi Odinga, Charles Rubia, James Orengo, Martin Shikuku, Ahmed Salim Bamahriz, George Nthege Gibson Kamau Kuria, Rev. Timothy Njoya and such women as late Prof.Wangari Maathai. When these gallant children of Kenya were facing real personal peril as they tackled a totalitarian edifice, Musalia was coddling a pernicious regime.
Little wonder that during last weekend's homecoming at his ancestral backyard, Mark Too,a close ally of Moi, chaperoned the local people into agreeing that Musalia ought to be be the region's presidential flag-carrier. Are the chickens coming home to roost?
With time Kenyans will surely seek answers from Musalia. Had he stuck with ODM, he would have had an opportunity to rejuvenate his political resume. With hindsight he may however turn out to be the perfect prodigal son and return home. But historical legacies are made of sterner stuff.
Comments Post a comment