How Governor Alfred Mutua betrayed his father.

What started as a dream has mutated to obsession and now it is at a risk of becoming a suicidal trap. On November 8 2013 all the cameras were on Machakos. The Machakos governor invited President Kenyatta to launch the much hyped Machakos City.  It was a city whose construction had not started yet but Governor Mutua assured the president that he had received pledges to the tune of 1.6 trillion.

It might be impossible to know when Governor Mutua started harboring dreams of leading this country. Perhaps the dream was hatched during his days at State House as the official government spokesperson. The days when  he was so powerful to the extent of calling President Obama immature and unintelligent by saying, “It’s very clear that he was speaking out of ignorance and he doesn’t understand the Kenyan politics. We had thought he is mature in his assessment of Kenyan and African politics but we do forgive him because we understand it’s his first time in the Senate and he’s yet to understand the issues of foreign policy.” Or was the dream born when he won the governorship at the first askance? What cannot be debated is that on November 8^th 2013 Mutua believed he had Kenya at his palms. Days afterwards Kenyans would praise him to no end.

Mutua felt he was now mature enough to shape his destiny. He was itching to move out of his father’s home. He would come home late and drunk, when his father would want to discipline him, Mutua would go on a tirade insulting the father and his wives. The father was patient though. He had lofty dreams of the boy he had helped build his first grass thatched house.  On 25^th August 2016 Mutua finally made his threats come true. He abandoned his father’s Wiper and formed Maendeleo Chap Chap Party. Kalonzo could do nothing but watch a son he mentored chase a mirage.

Mutua got lucky. He won the seat for a second time defeating Wavinya Ndeti in a highly disputed election. The win under his new party fuelled his dream. It enforced his belief that the presidency was his for taking. To occupy the top office Mutua had to overcome some hurdles. The first hurdle was to dethrone Kalonzo as the Kamba kingpin. The good orator chose Facebook as his battleground.

When Kalonzo said he will work with Uhuru, Governor Mutua threw a tantrum. He posted a 10 point essay why he should speak for the Kamba community instead of Kalonzo or Muthama. He would go on to say, ‘ I am ready and steadfast in my quest to Presidency because I have worked closely with both Presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta and in a political friendship with Raila Odinga and know I have their support and that of many development minded Kenyans across the country to be the next President of Kenya.’ The contradiction that has defined most of his career would suffice yet again, he was ready to work with Uhuru Kenyatta but he was castigating Kalonzo for doing the same. Mutua on 4^th Jan 2020 would make a bold claim that Kalonzo bribed leaders to attend his meeting. It seems Dr Alfred Mutua had devised a way to dethrone Kalonzo, through incessant attacks against the person of Kalonzo and his politics.

Challyh News would watch Mutua throw another tantrum as Wiper Party signed a working agreement with Jubilee Party. In a veiled attack minutes after the agreement, Mutua would ask for radical changes within the Kenyan political structure.  In what was interpreted as a jibe to his political father, Governor Mutua would say, “It is quite laughable and an indicator of how primitive our politics are that a leader can be rewarded and invited to the table not based on his ideology, previous works or ability but because of his tribes and tribal bloc.”

What amuses many Kenyans is that as much as Mutua likes attacking leaders from his keyboard, he cries the moment he physically meets his political adversaries. He is on record saying, “He shook my hand firmly and said he would crush me because I have been attacking him. He gave me a steely look and spoke with harshness, and I know he has the resources to crush me.” This was after an allegedly firm handshake in which Mutua interpreted as Ruto wanting to squeeze him to death.