A week ago, Devolution cabinet secretary CS Eugene Wamalwa and Ford-Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula were at a funeral in Trans Nzoia sharing a podium that was reminiscent to the 2010 Mabanga Peace Accord that united Sabaots and Luhyas ahead of the 2013 general elction, which saw Senator Henry Ole Ndiema elected from the minority community for the first time in a historical poll.
The Mabanda Peace Accord now christened the Building Bridges Initiative BBI between Sabaots and Luhyas also saw the same two communities share political seats both in Trans Nzoia and Bungoma counties following both the 2013 and 2017 polls.
Henry Ole Ndiema
But the two Bukusu politicians who were attending the burial of Mzee Musa Terere aged 97, the father of Ole Ndiema, at Zea Farm in Kwanza constituency were being told that the Sabaot community had received a raw deal despite the two communities having signed the decree of sharing power and resources equitably.
Towards the 2013 polls, Sabaot politicians, the clergy, professional and elders led by former Kitale deputy mayor Pius Kauka took a delegation to Wetang’ula’s home in Bungoma to allow one of their own Ole Ndiema contest the Trans Nzoia senatorial seat on the FK’s ticket which he humbly accepted.
The group had to run to Wetang’ula for rescue after a similar request to the then party leader of New Ford–Kenya Eugene Wamalwa had turned them down and preferred Ole Ndiema to former
moses wetangula
Cherangany MP Kipruto arap Kirwa as NFK’s senatorial candidate.
Ole Ndiema and Kirwa had to face off in the senatorial race with the former as a newcomer to politics easily clinching the seat as the FK candidate to the surprise of many against the experienced former Cherangany MP.
Recently, a section of the Sabaot elders crowned the Baringo senator and the Kanu party leader Gideon Moi as the community’s leader but the endorsement was quickly rebuffed by a second group that alleged that the Sabaots are solidly behind deputy president William Ruto’s quest for the presidency in 2022.
Since the 2017 senatorial results, which Ole Ndiema vehemently accepted and resolved to back the Jubilee winner Mike Mbito, the former Trans-Nzoia senator has taken a low profile but is agitating towards the DP.
Consequently, Mbito has followed suit to rally behind the DP saying that the Sabaot community can hardly run away from their kinsman at the time of need.
And so, a week ago, both Wamalwa and Wetang’ula were at it again. before the eyes of Ole Ndiema as he mourned his late father with each side posing to be the most preferred to salvage the interest of the Sabaot community.
Here was the Devolution CS telling the Sabaots that they stood to benefit a lot from the report of the Handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
For Wetang’ula, the Bungoma senator was asking the community to continue working with his FK party if they wished to continue reaping from the 2010 Mabanga Peace Accord.
But who between Wamalwa and Wetang’ula is fooling the Sabaots?
It all started when the MCA for Kinyoro Lawrence Mokusu asked the FK party boss not to waste more time and accept to be the deputy president’s running mate for the 2022 polls in a bid to unite Wetang’ula’s Bukusu people with the Kalenjin community within the Rift Valley region.
Mokusu had also dismissed his Saboti ward counterpart David Kaboloman as the choice of Sabaots for the running mate of Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa garnering for the governor’s seat.
The Kinyoro MCA had proposed d the CCO for water department John Meng’wa as the best bet for the running mate but fell short of naming the candidate for the governor’s slot.
