Over the last two years, there has been a dramatic shift in politics that made Western Kenya’s supposed bull Musalia Mudavadi go back to the drawing board. – By Gerald Gekara.
After kickstarting his presidential bid in a high stakes meet up with the diaspora, some would say ‘madvd’ was off to a bitter start by aligning himself with the 48th county.
His strategy however saw a dynamic shift to local opposition politics where on one or two occasions, Musalia brushed shoulders with the government in power, Raila Odinga and at times Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto.
BBI Report
In a TV interview, Musalia Mudavadi disclosed that none of the National Super Alliance (NASA) allies had any information concerning the much celebrated handshake between Uhuru and Raila.
Despite publicly welcoming the bold move, Musalia sort to go separate ways and instead strengthen the position of his Amani National Congress party.
This built a foundation of mistrust and eventually open disagreement with his one time preferred presidential candidate.
During the launch of the BBI, Musalia expressed his reservations concerning sections of the report resulting in some heckling from guests present at the Bomas convention.
However, at the posible close of the BBI report, Musalia failed to stand by his contest of the content of the report.
This was a big blow to his political stance, and chances to build alongside deputy president William Ruto, who has strongly challenged the BBI.
The Atwoli – Oparanya factor
Long thought to be Mudavadi’s strong hold, the Western Kenya is proving to be a hotbed of swing votes for any politician to venture aggressively.
Repeated attempts to rope the Western bull by the stone wielding Dr. Boni Khalwale has proved that the Deputy President’s move to secure the vote have born no fruit.
Then came the Atwolis and Oparanya. Both being projects of the President, have somehow managed to secure legislators in the region if the Atwoli declaration was anything to go by.
Appearing under the so called ‘corona coalition’ the Atwoli-Oparanya charm offensive in the Western Kenya has seen Mudavadi lose major following to the development touting duo.
The declaration saw the attempted coup to oust Mudavadi’s wing man Senator Moses Wetangula. Despite the coup being thwarted as an illegal removal, Wetangula has been reduced to an onlooker despite his big ideas on the economy.
2021 will be a critical year for ingokho politics and many politicians will seek to harness the region that controls nearly 20 percent of Kenya’s registered voters.
