January 2012: Craving for a handshake

Why Ngilu won't 

shake the VP's hand

Better days for Mr Musyoka and Mrs Ngilu

Just why will Mrs Charity Ngilu not greet Vice President Mr Kalonzo Musyoka?
When the first incident occurred during the burial of Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof Wangare Maathai, our source says a meeting had just taken place be­tween Mr Musyoka and  and Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko.

The VP had summoned the DPP to his office to congratulate him upon his appointment. Our sources say a con­ver­sation ensued, with the VP telling the DPP that he needed to prove his worth in office by pros­ecuting Big Fish allegedly involved in corruption. This was around the same time that an investigation file on graft in the Ministry of Water and Irri­gation had been placed before Mr Tobiko and a key decision was expected to whether to prosecute Mrs Ngilu or not over alleged graft prac­tices involving Ndovoini Borehole in Kangundo.
It is alleged that relatives of Mrs Ngilu were contracted to carry out works on the borehole and that they had been paid yet the borehole had no water. But a quick visit by Mrs Ngilu to Ndovoini proved that to be a lie as residents were found drawing water from the facility.
During the Kalonzo- Tobiko meeting, the VP brought up the matter of Perez Tobiko- the DPP’s sister who in early this year was appointed by Mrs Ngilu to chair the Tanathi Water Services Board, succeeding former Kajiado Central MP George Parsaoti. Peris is also a former high ranking member of Kalonzo’s  ODM-K party that has just been baptized Wiper Democratic Movement. She quit the party soon after the last elections nad has been working closely with Mrs Ngilu. Our sources say the VP urged the DPP to tell his sister to abandon the chairmanship of Tanathi as it was aimed at tarnishing her image and return to the Wiper outfit.
Its is alleged the VP told the DPP that one of the bi fries he could slot into the frying pan was Mrs Ngilu. One of the key outputs of this move would be that Mrs Ngilu would be out of the cabinet and that she would no longer use the resources she has mo­bi­lized in the ministry to provide water not just in Ukambani but Kenya as a whole.
Our source says Mr Tobiko shot back saying that he would fry both big and small fish- all based in evidence. He allegedly told the VP to look for his sister- with whom they have collabo­rated in politics and deliver that message himself and not to use him for political pur­poses.
On that note, there was no way Mrs Ngilu would not get wind of such entreats to the DPP. To her mind, this effort by the VP echoed another one he made to President Mwai Kibaki, seeking that Mrs Ngilu be removed from the Water Ministry on account of the fact that he was being over­shad­owed on the Ukambani political scene due to the  positive efforts Ngilu was making to avail water to Ukambani.
Ngilu also believs that claims that she was favouring Ukambani in her allo­cation of water resources in the ministry were manufactured by her Ukambani detractors and then handed over to outside forces to execute for fear of the backlash the campaign would have on local leaders.
It is in the same vein that contentions made by Mwangi Kiunjuri against her  must be seen- that Kiunjuri was merely a trumpet belonging to other people, designed to paint Ngilu in negative light.
There can be no pretence that these efforts to bring Ngilu down by hook or crook have been isolated. Indeed they must be seen as being kit and caboodle of the invective that some outgoing Ukambani MPs have been heaping on her at personal level, with Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama being unashamedly stupendous.
So as Ngilu took her seat at the Maathai service, she had unassailable evidence  that the Vice President of the Republic of Kenya Hon Dr Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka Mairu  was her definitive adversary  who works at times in the shadows and at other times, in the open. She knew it was he who is the commander of the forces that insult, accuse her of graft and are seeking to rout her from Government.
Kalonzo denies these allegations re­peatedly through his spokesman Kaplich Barsito and it is not possible that he would admit culpability, given the desperation with which he is seeking to control the Kamba vote  in coming days. Mr Barsito told The Anchor that the alleged meeting between his boss and the DPP did not take place to his recollection. "I'm not aware that such a meeting took place', he said.
 As the rebuttals come, there has been a consistent claim that Kalonzo does not view Mrs Ngilu as his  rival in Kamba politics, an assertion that exposes  the VP’s  sense of false self importance. This grandstanding aside, the reality however is that Mr Musyoka will have to contend with Mrs Ngilu in Ukambani politic in coming days.
Besides, Ngilu sees Kalonzo as master pretender- coming for the funeral service of a worrier he never defended when he was in government during the rule of Daniel arap Moi.
She told The Anchor that such are the factors that made her decide not greet the VP- unless she was set to join the league of big time pretenders.
Mrs Ngilu says she is not about to change the stance in coming days and the pursuit of a handshake by the VP  is part of the scheme to depict her in bad light. Had the Makadara MP Gideon Mbuvi known this he would not have attempted to force the pair to greet and embarrass the VP as he leapt overenthusiastically to seize the opportunity to be seen greeting Mrs Ngilu.
In the recent snub at Itoleka market in Kitui Central, Makadara MP Gideon Sonko Mbuvi instigated a forced public rec­on­ciliation of the two which backfired with the VP emerging embarrassed. When “Sonko” invited the VP to the podium where Ngilu was, the water minister protested and urged the VP to stay put.The VP nevertheless rose up and walked to the podium extending his hand to Ngilu who frowned at it. Embarrassed, the VP is shown in TV clips grabbing the hand of water minister and attempting to greet her. “I am not under any obligation to greet the VP, no, not at all,” Ngilu says. The two Akamba political kingpins with Musyoki having been in parliament since 1985, serving in several powerful ministerial dockets, as deputy speaker and now as the Vice President with very little to show for it. Ngilu on her part has been in parliament since 1992, vied for presidency in 1997 and served as cabinet minister in health and water dockets with resounding success.The two have never been in the same party although they have since 2002 found themselves on the same side. Between 1992 and 2002, Ngilu was in DP and SDP while Musyoka was in Kanu all through. In 2002, they both found them­selves in Narc and in cabinet as well. In 2007 again, they went separate ways but found themselves in same post election cabinet. Politically, Musyoka is Ngilu’s senior. Due to his long tenure in parliament and the fact that he is the Vice President. But in terms of political leadership, Mrs Ngilu leads the way as pioneer of opposition politics in Ukambani. She stood against President Moi when no one, including Kalonzo could face him in Ukambani.