The ongoing construction of the Masinde Muliro Stadium in Kanduyi is in full swing, with completion expected before June 1 to play host to the upcoming Madaraka Day celebrations.
But this has come at a great cost to residents – with the family of former Governor Wycliffe Wangamati being the latest victims of wanton demolitions.
On Saturday night, the County brought down Mzee Wangamati’s two properties in Kanduyi – estimated at Sh500 million ostensibly to create space for a facility Wangamati started in his first term.
CONTEMPT AGAINST COURT
Scrap metal dealers, have engaged several youth on the demolished site, scavenging for any salvageable material amidst the rubble.
Speaking after the demolition of his property, father to former Governor Mzee Patrick Wangamati said: “I got the plot in 1968 and the case against demolition is still in court but they have already demolished the building.”
Meanwhile, the former Governor Hon. Wycliffe Wangamati has accused the Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula of waging a political war against his family in what is shaping out to be Wetangulas vs Wangamati.
Wangamati dared the Ford Kenya party leader to go for him and leave out his family.
“If I did mistakes while in the office as the governor, let the speaker come for me and not my family,” said Wangamati, who has since joined President Ruto’s ruling party, UDA.
THINGS FALL APART
Wetangula claims to have introduced Wangamati into the political platform using his Ford Kenya party as a platform.
During that time, Wangamati was the main financer of Ford Kenya and Wetangula’s own political ambitions, with critics arguing that introducing Wangamati to politics was done at a fee, therefore questioning the Speaker’s sincerity.
However, the two fell out after Wetangula accused the governor of sponsoring a coup in his party.
WANGAMATI WINNING HEARTS
In the wake of the demolition, there has been an outpouring of sympathy, with resident faulting Wetangula for waging a meaningless political vendetta against a man he defeated at the ballot through Ken Lusaka.
Despite his loss, Wangamati still enjoys considerable support from Bumula, Kanduyi where he lives and Sirisia where he has relatives.
His stature and profile has been amplified by an underperforming Lusaka and the fact that all the projects on which Wetangula and Lusaka are riding on to craft personal legacies are in fact Wangamati’s initiatives.
IRREPLACEABLE WANGAMATI LEGACY
In August last year, President William Ruto opened the 300-bed capacity mother and child hospital complex in Bungoma in what silently endorsed Wangamati’s foresight and thinker as a leader.
But Wangamati’s most audacious and most transformative project was the scholarship programme that has since been scrapped by the current governor.
Through the programme, Wangamati saw some 13,000 bright and needy students joining secondary schools of their choice. Some of the pioneers of the programme are pursuing prestigious courses at the Ivy League Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and MIT.
Other key Wangamati projects include the Musikoma-Kanduyi dual carriageway, upgraded Masinde Muliro Stadium, state-of-the-art eye clinic and cancer centre at the Bungoma county referral hospital.
These accolades thrust against increasing scrutiny of Wetangula’s own legacy of non-development despite more than 30 years in politics have activated the beast mode in the Speaker.
WETANG’ULA’S HAND
Even though Wetang’ula is not directly involved in the demolition, many see his direct hand and machinations in the move by Governor Lusaka – seen by many as a mere puppet of the Speaker
Wetangula’s close allies among them MPs say he has sworn to finish Wangamati before 2027 and the demolition is only but the beginning.
Commentators have argued that the stadium management should have acquired the building for hospitality or administrative purposes. The residents welcome the stadium, but have no idea how it will benefit them.
Public participation is required to help residents understand the benefits of this project.
For now, there is no knowing what will happen next. What we can opine is that Wstangula has planted a generation seed of enmity in the fashion of the Montagues and Capulets in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
THE TAWE MOVEMENT FACTOR
What is also clear is that wave of Tawe Movement is growing with Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya incrdasingly casting more doubt on Wetangula’s ability, willingness and sincerity to deliver the Luhya Nation.
Natembeya is calling to question Wetangula’s politics of tokenism and nepotism and his inability to empower the youths who have ended up in odd jobs and while many suffer marginalisation in civil service.
Wangamati went against the grain and paid for it but looks like he is up and again and ready to pounce.
The new dynamics and growing political consciousness in Bungoma is something akin to showing a knife to a bull before slaughtering it. Like a cornered feline, Wetangula is likely to be more vicious – because clearly this is the fight of of his political life and survival.
But will he politics of vendetta and witch-hunt keep in in power? The demolitions have made Wetangula unpopular, targeted a veteran politician and man standing in the way of community.
Hon. Patrick Wangamati and his son will enjoy public sympathy with the demolitions handing Wetangula political adversaries a weapon against him come 2027. This will murky the political waters in Bungoma as opponents strategize on retaliatory measures.
(Acknowledgement: This article was first published on Simseoat.)