Speaker's power play and art of political survival

Throughout his political life, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has been streetwise and one of the country’s ultimate political gambler. His skills in maneuvering his political journey and successfully surviving four governments is stuff for legends.

Despite being written off by some of his opponents as an underdog,  Wetang’ula has always had a knack for finding the sweet spot in the inner sanctum of power, his controversial political history  notwithstanding. Currently,  there is talk of impeaching him and if he survives, he will have defied odds, yet again.

Wetang’ula ventured into the public spotlight at 26, albeit controversially, when he decided to represent mutineers of 1982 failed coup who included Hezekiah Ochuka and his batch of Kenya Airforce accomplices - Pancras Oteyo Okumu, Joseph Ogidi Obuon, Charles Owira, Walter Odira Ojode and Bramwel Injeni Njereman.

He later became a magistrate and as disputable as his entry into the limelight was, as many thought he had become an enemy of the State, he  warmed his way into President Daniel Moi’s administration.

Controversial lawyer

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The budding controversial lawyer joined  the ruling party and was eventually nominated as an MP to make his debut in parliament in 1993. He was later elected as Sirisia MP in 2002  and would retain this seat until 2013 when he switched to contest the Bungoma senatorial seat when the new Constitution came into effect.

Wetang’ula would then waltz  in and out of opposition into the government and has so far maintained a clean sheet as he has never lost in an election.

Since then, he has always survived by the skin of his teeth in all his political years of his chequered political career where he has always had a fight to pick.

In 2010, Wetang’ula was forced to step down as Minister for Foreign Affairs on October 27 due to an investigation over his alleged involvement in the Kenyan Tokyo embassy scandal.

It was alleged that instead of accepting free property from the government of Japan for the embassy, Sh1.6 billion was withheld from the sale of the Kenyan property in Nigeria and used to buy a less suitable property.He was later absolved of the allegations and any wrongdoing by five separate probes and returned to the ministry in August 2011.

Another incident that shaped Wetang’ula’s career included the battle for the soul of Ford Kenya which pitted him  against former MPs Wafula Wamunyinyi, Eseli Simiyu and ex-Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati. He eventually had the last laugh.

In 2013, the court nullified Wetang’ula’s victory as Bungoma senator, he was almost barred from vying in the by-election over alleged election malpractices only to be saved by the Supreme court.

He would then join Raila Odinga in the opposition trenches where he had a rough time with his co-principals. Opposition appeared an unfamiliar territory for him causing him to emerge a victim of circumstances, after he found himself on the receiving end of former President Uhuru Kenyatta barbs after following his rapprochement with National Super Alliance (Nasa) leader in March 2018.

With his grasp of Queen’s language (perhaps Kings today) albeit with a Bungoma accent, he lamented his removal from the minority seat and claimed the divorce would be messy and noisy. He decamped from Nasa and joined the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

This time round, Wetang’ula is facing an onslaught by the Azimio who are hell-bent in capturing the  position of Speaker  in the spirit of the broad based government.

Interestingly, he has refused to wind up his party against the wishes of Kenya Kwanza. His double role as Ford Kenya leader and Speaker has been castigated by the High Court which has ruled it as a violation of the constitution.