Peace must prevail as western Kenyas political competition gains momentum
Senator Moses Wetangula on 2nd April 2016 launches his presidential bid at Kakamega town.
The launch is the first step on a journey of a thousand miles. The senator has to first surmount the hurdle of clinching the Cord coalition ticket to be its flag bearer by beating Hon. Musyoka and the Right Honorable former prime minister Raila Odinga and that if he does succeed those two coalition partners will still stick with the Cord coalition and back him to square it with the Jubilee coalition incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta.
The challenge that Senator Moses Wetangula faces is that, the truth be said though it is stated that the three principals are equal, yet it is no secret that the other two principals are first older than senator Wetangula by age and have had a longer stint in politics with Musyoka having served as a vice president and Hon. Raila Odinga as a prime minister and secondly the other two principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga have their tribes solidly behind them and can count to start the race for the Cord coalition party primaries to choose the presidential flag bear with solid tribal votes unlike the Senator Wetangula who will start with a fractured tribal vote.
Senator Wetangula’s launch of his intention to seek the Cord coalitions’ ticket to be its presidential candidate in 2017 is poised to rattle the political status quo in the counties of the former Western Province and Trans Nzoia County across the political divide of the Cord coalition family of parties, the Jubilee coalition family of parties and the lone ranger Amani National Congress Party.
The democratic matrix of the Luhya people is going to be even more intricable. But the key issue is that let peace and sobriety guide issue oriented politics. It will be unacceptable for any political agitators to seek to utilize violence as a tool of political advancement. It is hoped that the pluralistic Western will be richer with the diversity of its politics and not the poorer because the politics is devoid of ideas, issues and vision.
Western should resist the allure of retrogressive abusive politics. The electorate should reject any politician who seeks to bring the region into disrepute and through hate mongering and insults. The political landscape of Western Kenya and Kenya is big enough for all and the electorate is intelligent enough to process who are the charlatans and who are the real leaders.
