ARTICLE BY NICK JUMA
Fake news has become a staple of Kenya’s social media. So much so that on any given day, fake statements and equally fake responses to those statements, are issued liberally by the lords of this industry.
But if we have learnt something from Kenya’s politics, it is that rumours don’t just start out of the blues. When fake news about a subject becomes sustained, you can safely make the assumption that the matter has been discussed in high places and only the waters remain to be tested.
These past few weeks, in between dominant news items revolving around the impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua, a major fake news topic has consistently been a strange assertion; that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetang’ula, was on his way out, via another impending impeachment.
It is difficult to pinpoint the source and reasons for this unprovoked political assault on the Speaker, but I submit that certainly, there must be powerful forces testing the scene, for whatever reason.
A certain school of thought has it that the anti-Wetang’ula narrative originates from the Gachagua camp, being an attempt by the departing Mount Kenya political troop to sow seeds of discord within government as a last gap effort to totally break up the Kenya Kwanza regime.
This line is lent credence by the fact that most of the memes and articles suggesting the departure of Wetang’ula from the powerful legislative position also purport to confirm that the post of Speaker will then go to one among President Ruto’s newfound allies in the ODM party.
But I have a different hypothesis. In the period in which the impeachment of the DP has captured the attention and imagination of Kenyans, the common factor in national discourse has been about the constitutional safeguards around transitions and the possible scenarios at play - should both the office of President and Deputy President fall vacant.
It is from this that Wetangula’s enviable standing as the third in command became apparent to most Kenyans.
In my assessment, both the Gen Z protests, which led to the unprecedented invasion of Parliament in June and the fallout between the President and his deputy, which obviously fuelled the subsequent impeachment, have shone a sharp light on provisions of the constitution that guarantee state successions at the top of the country’s leadership.
I suspect this is the first time it has occurred to many quarters that if Speaker Wetang’ula can preside so effortlessly over the impeachment of a DP, he may do even more!
Be that as it may, it is important as a country to appreciate the fact that amidst the two-year turbulence within the Executive and unending drama within the Judiciary, Wetang’ula has steered the legislature into a beacon of calm and steady leadership.
This is in no way a statement of support for some of the rough edges of the National Assembly, which include the passing of regressive bills and lack of regard for public interest. But to give the devil his due, the Speaker has stood out as a symbol of authority and fair arbiter when the country needed one.
I think this has been evident from the time Parliament was vetting members of Ruto’s new cabinet, after the President bowed to Gen Z pressure and sacked his earlier team.
Chairing the vetting panel, Wetang’ula acquitted himself admirably as someone who understood the delicate intricacies involved in crafting the broad-based government and almost chaperoned the shaky opposition figures.
During his long-drawn impeachment process, Gachagua spared no minute in letting Kenyans know that the Kenya Kwanza coalition had been the product of an agreement in which constituent party leaders like Wetang’ula, Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi and leaders of smaller parties like CS Alfred Mutua and CS JB Muturi, had secured guarantees for government positions by supposedly blackmailing Ruto into accepting terms that disadvantaged the dominant UDA party.
What Gachagua didn’t say was that of all these leaders, the electoral map shows that Wetang’ula delivered his Bungoma base to the Kenya Kwanza coalition and perhaps tilted the scales that ultimately delivered the presidency.
As a political operator, Wetangula is also a man fully in charge of his base and who can comfortably make promises to the overall coalition leadership that he is able to keep, unlike many of his peers on that said list.
Regardless of who wants Speaker Wetang’ula gone, no political philosophy and no ambition justifies this.
Instead, it would be more prudent to embrace the Speaker as one of the personalities needed in restoring stability in the nation after a lengthy period of political turmoil.
After all,
he enjoys the respect of legislators
and the general admiration of the
nation.