The Metamorphosis of Ababu Namwamba

Money, politics, and the head are three strange combinations, nay, no they are heterogeneous. If you you threw stones at your chemistry teacher, then heterogeneous means “do not mix” in the parlance of daily communicators I dare not mention here.

Ababu, like many others before him is a victim of the heterogeneity of the three above. I happen to personally know Ababu Namwamba, having met him while he was studying in Washington DC. His metamorphosis is both tangential and shocking. We never thought much of Ababu whenever we met at the then Safari Club, a Luhya run entity in Washington DC.

He struggled with the rest of the folks, which is normal in the land of milk and honey. Whenever “Baba” came to DC, Ababu and my turncoat sister, name withheld were like the Ivan Pavlov’s dog; the classically conditioned, omnipresent, and ever expectant baba following canines. Ababu then had two things, he had the politics and his head intact above his shoulders.
Fast forward; the Pavlov dog returned to Kenya after his studies and rode the back of “baba” to become one of the youngest members of parliaments of our time.
The third component slowly started to creep in, MONEY! Ababu, who hitch hiked while in Washington DC put his fingers, then hands in the honey jar. He started wearing suits which hitherto he could only admire from the windows of Cloud Nine and other namely fashion houses. And with the money, the head has refused to listen to the heart. Ababu the fiery foot soldier turned captain may go into the annuls of Kenyan political history as a young ambitious man who grew before his time, but his early growth may become his bane.

I am not writing this to trash Ababu’s democratic right to question the going ons in ODM, which I personally do not ascribe to. I am writing this to draw parallels of how our politicians fall through the same cracks. Kenyan politics does not practice democracy, it practices Plutocracy. The ruling class dictates who does what. Moi once said “Kenya iko na wenyewe”. Have we thought seriously about these MOI words? Ababu should know that it is not how smooth your tongue is, it is not how much you can quote from Othelo; it is patience, scheming, playing stupid, and not telling your mother that she is sitting badly which prevails in Kenyan politics.
Ababu, please study the MOI Script.
Afwande!

 By By George Anyumba