Khalwale may be down but not out

Kakamega, Kenya:  One chilly morning in 2002, an elderly man from Narok lay on Dr Bonni Khalwale’s operating table at his clinic in Kakamega. The medical doctor performed a prostate surgery on him – the last procedure before joining politics.

Dr Bonni Khalwale

“My patient was a father to a prisons officer working in Kakamega. The officer had brought him all the way from Kajiado County for my attention. Everything went well and the impressed old man gave me a memento – a traditional Maasai artifact – which he said would bring me luck in my new calling as a politician,” recalls Khalwale.

Indeed, the medical practitioner got elected as Member of Parliament for Ikolomani Constituency a couple of weeks later and went on to retain the seat in 2007, including surviving a by-election in 2011. And recently, Khalwale was elected first Senator of the populous Kakamega County.

In a complete contrast to his name Khalwale, which in his native Luhya language means “the sick one”, the Senator exhibits a robust and healthy approach to politics. But the avid debater, who has hit the ground running in the Senate with the passing of the first substantive motion to his credit already, this week finds himself in the news because the shoe is on the other foot.

Khalwale the bullfighter, who has tormented fellow political players over the last decade, now appears cornered. This follows the decision by Senators allied to Jubilee to eject him from two key House committees of the Senate because of alleged betrayal.

Accusing him of collaborating with the rival CORD coalition, Leader of Majority, Prof Kithure Kindiki invoked Standing Order 178 to strike out the name of Khalwale from the Finance Committee and Committee on Implementation.

Khalwale, who is allied to Jubilee by virtue of the coalition’s post-election deal with his United Democratic Forum (UDF) party, is accused of teaming up with CORD-allied senators to hand the chairmanship of the Committee on Implementation to James Orengo, the Senator of Siaya.

Ballot stalemate

CORD reciprocated Khalwale’s gesture by supporting his candidature for the chairmanship of the powerful Committee on Finance, Commerce and Economic Planning. This resulted in a ballot stalemate between Kakamega Senator and his Mandera counterpart, Billow Kerrow of Jubilee.

Speaker of the Senate, Ekwe Ethuro, was accordingly forced to call for a repeat poll on Thursday. But Kindiki moved fast to eject Khalwale from the committee thereby paving the way for Kerrow’s election as Finance committee boss. CORD allied Kisumu Senator Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, who is member of the committee, was away during the first round poll and Jubilee feared his return would enable Khalwale clinch the post.

Typically, Khalwale is not taking the setback lying down. The bullfighter is enraged and is charging at everybody – Jubilee leader, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Ruto, his UDF party leader Musalia Mudavadi and Senate whip, Kindiki.

“The mischief by this young man (Prof Kindiki) notwithstanding, my Senate life remains very robust. And I want to remind the Jubilee crowd that the new Constitution does not contemplate a situation where my duty as a Senator is to promote interests of a particular party or politician but rather to advance the ideals of a devolved government,” he charges.

Terming them political students of retired President Moi, Khalwale accuses the President and his deputy of attempting to kill genuine opposition by gaining absolute political power and control of the National Assembly and Senate.

“I want to remind President Uhuru that even when I ran (former Finance minister, Amos) Kimunya out of town, President Kibaki did not initiate my removal as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Neither did Prime Minister Raila Odinga, when I touched on Ruto, his close ally then, over the maize scandal. So why the political intolerance now?” he poses.

Political rivals

Ordinarily, the University of Nairobi trained general medicine and surgery doctor, has the knack of confronting politics, medical-style, by dissecting issues and political rivals alike.

Previously, the surgeon has placed his “patients” under the microscope and exposed them after dissecting their moves and intentions. He, for instance, spearheaded censure motions against Deputy President Ruto, when he was Agriculture minister over alleged maize scandal and Kimunya over the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel, including a spirited campaign against former Premier Raila, among many.

But Khalwale is best remembered for his poetic bullish hounding of Kimunya from the Finance docket in 2008: “To stop corruption at the Treasury, Kimunya must go; to repossess the Grand Regency Hotel, Kimunya must go; to assure members of the public who were misdirected into buying Safaricom shares without adequate information, Kimunya must go,” he chanted eloquently.

Courtesy of the latest developments, Khalwale’s ire in now directed at his party boss, Mudavadi: “I am calling upon the UDF fraternity to refuse to recognize that pre-election pact purportedly signed by our party bosses, because Jubilee is only interested in using it to its advantage.”

According to the Senator, Jubilee reneged on the deal from the moment it declined to support the candidature of Vihiga Senator George Khaniri as deputy Speaker. Khaniri, he observes, only benefitted from votes of CORD-allied Senators. “The same Jubilee team again blocked the same man from chairing the Agriculture committee, and thwarted Mumias East MP Ben Washiali’s bid to be Chief Whip of the lower House,” protests Khalwale.

If Mudavadi insists on the cooperation with Jubilee, he now wants him to come out with a report card “and show it to our people”, demonstrating how they have benefitted with regard to appointments to Government positions.

Gone silent

“Alternatively if he has gone silent because he is anticipating nomination to one of the remaining Cabinet slots, then I want to warn my brother Mudavadi that if you accept to become a civil servant of Uhuru, consider yourself politically finished,” charges Khalwale.

Indeed, the good doctor has over the taken it upon himself to prescribe the right political medicine for players in his western Kenya backyard. During this year’s elections he backed the presidential candidature of the former Deputy Prime Minister – he got his size of the potato as Senator of Kenya’s second-largest County with 12 constituencies, but his boss, Mudavadi, lost out.

But now he won’t let Mudavadi get his size of the potato from his old friend, President Uhuru. This, argues the doc, will confirm the people’s pre-election claims that Mudavadi was all along a project of the Jubilee team.

And while conceding his is momentarily cornered, the bullfighter warns his adversaries that he knows best what to do to free himself. In the meantime, one can only ignore the proprietor of New Kakamega Surgery at their own peril, because the potency of the charm from his one-time patient from Narok does not seem to have died down.

By Oscar Obonyo, The Standard

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.