By Iko Siku
“The way politics divides the world is into friends and enemies”
Francis Parker Yockey
Will sibling rivalry between former Governor Dr Julius Malombe, immediate former Kenya’s Ambassador to Uganda Kiema Kilonzo and former Wiper Chairman Senator David Musila who decamped from the party a few weeks ago weaken Wiper Party’s stab at Kitui gubernatorial seat in the coming August 9 General elections?
In the last two weeks, Malombe, Musila and Kiema camps have swamped social media sites especially WhatsApp and Facebook with vile propaganda.
Before then, only the Malombe camp seemed to dominate the space with carefully and cleverly scripted propaganda mainly targeting David Musila before they craned their artillery on Kiema Kilonzo when it became clear he would face off with Dr Malombe for the Wiper ticket.
The last two week have seen, first, the Musila brigade and then the Kiema camp up their social media activism criticising the former Governor with a fierceness never seen before.
The Malombe team which previously appeared to dominate the scene with acid propaganda and with a bigger army of social media millitia found themselves under siege and having to deal with heavy artillery fire from the two camps.
The three camps which are chips off the old Wiper Party block are tearing each other like angry lions. When they are done, they will all be wounded or maimed and likely to have poisoned, angered or confused the electorate with an inordinate bad blood that can be exploited by national and local enemies of their party and Kingpin.
This scenario leaves us with several Big Questiions:
- What damage will they have inflicted on each other, the Kingpin and the bargaining power of the region?
- Can Dr Malombe and Amb Kilonzo mend fences and still support the winner, the party and the Kingpin?
- Or will they go on a revenge mission…kufa gari kufa Serena
- Can SKM heal the rivalries, the rifts and gorges?
- Will the party still stand?
- Will Gov Ngilu be the sole beneficiary? Or is it Sen Musila or whoever wins the Wiper ticket by consession or elections?
- Who between Dr Malombe and Amb Kilonzo will gain from other rivals such as Ngilu and Musila?
Who do MPs and other shades of leadership support considering their loud silence?
Will the public be fatiqued by their wars?
Or are these social media propaganda wars just useless and ineffective noise?
The answers lie yonder. And as fate would have it, soon the dust will settle.
Luckily, SKM has always been extremely shrewd and tactful during transition periods since 2002.
He must now summon all his wit to navigate the Wiper ship through this year’s tumoils to avoid being wrecked once again by the primaries typhoon.
