MUKALO KWAYERA: Thank you for your friendship and counsel, Omwami Malulu

My journey with the departed Malava Member of Parliament:

‘Abana Beru (my brothers/sisters)’ – that is how he himself would have put it – on request, this is the second tribute, for a separate audience, I am paying in honour of my late friend Moses Malulu Injendi who was the Member of Parliament until the curtains fell on his life on February 17, 2025. .

A devout Catholic, it is introspective that Malulu passed away only two days after his spiritual leader, Pope Francis had been admitted at the Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli hospital in Rome battling with pneumonia and old age.

A part from their faith, the fallen Malava legislator had two more things in common with the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentinian Jorge Mario Borgoglio,: simplicity and respect for the poor.

Both Malulu and the ailing titular head of the Catholic church worldwide were down-to-earth men who had a soft spot for the hoi polloi, the downtrodden in society, with the pontiff having revealed upon his ascendance to the throne of St. Peter that attention to the poor is a trait he plucked from the inspirational virtues exemplified by the much adored St Francis of Assisi.

One morning in 2018, a primary school teacher friend of ours who had travelled from Malava to Nairobi sauntered into my office without appointment and demanded that I get our MP for him for an urgent, personal issue.

I got Mheshimiwa Malulu on phone in less than two minutes. He requested that we meet him at Parliament Buildings at lunch jour. I obliged.

FLATLY REJECTED

The meeting did not take long. Over a meal, our friend asked the lawmaker that he assists him with a bursary from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) his son who was studying at a public university.

Malulu did not mince his words. He flatly rejected the request. “I do not have that kind of money. CDF is for the very poor among us. You are not poor. You are on gainful employment as a teacher. So is your wife. I always see you on Isanjiro market drunk every weekend that I am there. Malava has so many poor people who deserve that CDF. Not you. I am sorry,” that is how candidly he told our friend.

Our teacher friend did not finish his sumptuous lunch. He immediately announced his departure and left quietly, sweating all over.

That incident summaries Malulu’s persona. The fallen 58-year-old lawmaker was a silent stalwart. Very reflective, consistent, focussed, calculating and non-controversial.

HOW IT STARTED

My journey with Malulu started at Lugusi Secondary School in 1988.

The learning institution is next to his rural homestead. Both of us were employed there as UT (untrained teachers), a badge of honour of sorts those days.

While at Lugusi, Malulu redefined the term Mukhulundu which he was won’t to apply in our social encounters the rest of his life.

Since Lugusi, at every encounter we had with someone not known to either of us, Malulu was quick to point out to the newcomer of my background with him, especially our stint as UT teachers at the last bend of the trouble-ridden 1980s.

‘Mukhulundu’ was his choice word of reference to a close friend. We all adopted it.

In Luhyia, Mukhulundu means ‘elder’ or older’. But redefined it to merely mean ‘friend. So did we, his peers, whenever we were in his company. I rarely called him Mheshimiwa or by his name. Neither did he refer to me by name. Mukhulundu was the buzz word.

Whether we were meeting his fellow legislators or any other entity of note, Malulu always went out of his way to inform our new company that he and I had started our salaried lives as untrained teachers at Lugusi Secondary School in Shitirila, Chemuche ward, Malava Constituency where we were paid Ksh 800 per month, a remuneration package that was so inconsistent that when luck smiled at us we would be paid only Ksh200.

It’s rarity notwithstanding, that money would for a half a week, perform wonders in our respective homesteads and Malava town, better known to locals as Isanjiro market.

At introduction to new company, Malulu would never forget – in addition to the low and rare perks – to refer to the interviews we were subjected to and the panel conducting them.

HAD NO CLUE

First, the chairman of interviewing panel, what was then known as the Board of Governors (BOG) nowadays Board of Management (BOM), did not know how to read. He therefore had no clue on the subjects taught at that school.

We were employed largely on the basis of morality and positive standing in society of our parents and not because the BOG picked our intellect and competence.

The routine questions at the interviews went thus: Do you have a girlfriend? Can you seduce your student? What can you do if your own female student smiled at you? Do you go to church every Sunday? Do you greet girls on your way to and from church? Can you greet your female student if you met her on Isanjiro market?

We passed these interviews and were handed hand-written employment letters by our Headmaster, James Andanje Tali (JAT as we called him), also a UT.

In spite of the seamy side of our teaching experience at Lugusi Secondary School, the school remains a memorable part of our lives as it acted as a launching pad for our future careers.

In most cases, we had lunch at Malulu’s nearby homestead where his widowed mother would prepare for us lunch that varied from strong-tea and sweet potatoes to ugali and sour milk, if not local vegetables.

MOST MUSCULAR

Two of Malulu’s younger siblings, a sister and a brother, were students at Lugusi.

The sister was very polite. The brother – now deceased – was the opposite.

At school Malulu’s brother was a defiant character who refused to be punished by any teacher, including his elder brother, whenever he was on the wrong.

It so happened that he was on the wrong almost on a daily basis. Because I was the most muscular of the teachers, the task of punishing Malulu’s brother was placed on me.

I managed. He somewhat feared me. But did not respect me.

One day, after I had caned him on parade for coming to school late when his home was less than a metre from the school compound, he loudly shouted in vernacular “You will know who I am next time you come for lunch at our home. You will see me.”

On that day, Malulu advised that we all go for lunch. His young brother was already in the sitting room eating when we arrived.

On seeing us, he carried his meal and dashed out through the backdoor. Malulu explained to the mother what had happened at school.

That is when the mother realised that the boy was a top level coward in spite of his noisy heroics, threats and truancy. From that time, whenever he was found on the wrong at home, he was told that I would be informed so that I “deal” with him at school.

It somehow worked. Malulu’s brother slowly changed into a responsible student and much later in life even became my friend. That is how personal my friendship with Malulu was.

We remained proud of Lugusi later in life that we injected life in the school and today, it stands as a flourishing learning institution with all the trees we planted there, are still standing today.

UNIVERSITY

I left Lugusi to go and teach at Tande Secondary School as a UT, again, before leaving in March 1989 to joint Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) to train as a journalist.

Malulu went to Egerton University after a mandatory stint at NYS. At university, he read Sociology for three years.

There, he was a Year-Mate to my elder brother Juma Kwayera who studied Linguistics. Malulu proceeded to take a Master’s degree and become a lecturer at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA)

JAT had left earlier to join the Kenya Police. He retired last year as a Chief Inspector with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

Dan Burudi Mwanga joined Western College (Weco) – known as Masinde Muliro University nowadays – to read accountancy. He too retired last year as a senior accountant in the Judiciary.

Donald Lusamamba Sanya went to train as a primary school teacher and later as a theologian and is today a senior cleric within our Friends (Quakers) Church. John Mmbwanga also went to train as a primary school teacher.

RESILIENT CHARACTER

Malulu was a resilient character. Though he was the son of a Chief, his father died when he was a toddler, and his mother persevered a lot to make ends meet for the orphaned children.

Right from Mang’uliro Primary School to Mukumu Boys School, St Peter’s Boys School, Mumias and university, Malulu did not have it easy. But he withstood the challenges.

After Lugusi, he and I would later re-unite in Nairobi when I hosted him for seven weeks after he had completed his Master’s degree and was now job-seeking, or tarmacking as we commonly call it in Malava.

It was a harrowing period for him at that time. Shunned by friends and chastised by relatives, it was a very tough and rough life for him.

The relatives expected him to be a bread-winner after the mother having spent so much on him more than anyone else in the family and not still be a dependent.

On the other hand, friends found his company bothersome because he could not stand on his feet when it came to matters relating to finances. They considered him a miser. But Malulu soldiered on unfazed and made it in life.

POLITICAL AWAKENING

In ways far more than one, Malulu’s political consciousness developed at Lugusi. Like all of us who were there with him.

The year 1988 remain a blot in Kenya’s democracy and governance chronicles.

That is the year that voting at the General-Election was exercised through the infamous Mlolongo (queue-voting) system.

In that year’s election, very popular politicians across the country who were critical of then President Daniel arap Moi’s one-party Kanu regime were rigged out of Parliament.

Malava Constituency was affected. A very popular Member of Parliament by the name Joshua Mulanda Angatia was rigged out like were his comrades-in-arms from Kakamega District (now county) Joseph Martin Shikuku in Butere and Wasike Ndombi of Lurambi South as well as Masinde Muliro in Chereng’any, Trans-Nzoia County.

The rigging of Angatia out of Parliament shook Malava to the marrow, especially we the youths at that time who viewed him as our hero spokesperson.

For the time we were at Lugusi, since the elections and long thereafter, it was clear to us that politics was too important to be left into the hands of oppressors as we stand on the periphery. We made a vow to play our part from whatever station of life we would be in future.

In a small measure we have played our part. Malulu’s life was snapped too early while he was still playing his part.

WHEN MALULU IS UPSET

Since our days in Lugusi, Malulu has remained a constant part of my life. As I have been to him. We talked. We consulted. We socialised. We danced. We laughed. We danced again. Together. Regularly. Without a hitch or quarrel.

Malulu rarely expressed his anger in public. He opted to remain silent or quietly quit company when upset.

He kept his inner feelings to himself on very rare occasions would he express his disgust many days later in private if someone had displeased him somewhere .

Malulu approached me in 2011 to inform me that he wanted to run for the Malava parliamentary seat in the next elections, two years ahead.

DIFFICULT REQUEST

He had no resources to stage such a challenge. He also was not known to the political party honchos of the day to give him support. He wanted my support on those fronts.

That was a difficult request to me. So because another friend to both of us, the late Mark Shiyuka Luchivua, had approached me earlier with a similar request.

I informed him as much. Malulu, I and Mark were age-mates. We were all born in 1966. We grew up together. We shared a lot together, including social night life.

In spite of my reservations, he asked me to do my best. I did. I got in touch with the Kubwa brothers (these are siblings of a respected gentleman in Malava called Christopher Kubwa, a friend of my elder brother Senda Kwayera, and who had worked in Nairobi at Posta when I was in college) to design ways of assisting Malulu meet his objectives.

Magomano Bar and Restaurant on Tom Mboya Street near Afya Centre and opposite Gill House became our meeting hound where I and the Kubwa brothers: Soita, Joshua, Amos, Aggrey, and Ben who is also siblings of my colleague Carolyne Kubwa and ….. Shianda mobilised Nairobi-based constituents of Malava for a weekly fund-raiser every Wednesday.

ONLY KSH 47,000

We could meet on Wednesday to raise the money to enable Malulu travel home on Friday via Easy Coach bus to market himself to the grassroots. The highest amount we ever raised was Ksh 47,000.

At one time we organised a big event at the then Kenya Polytechnic (now Technical University of Kenya – TUK) where we invited Nairobi-based constituents of Malava for them to meet Malulu. We also asked Malulu’s elder brother, Paulo, to travel to Nairobi to attend the occasion.

The function went on well. Malulu articulated himself well. He impressed. The participants bought into his ideas. We were delighted.

However, we encountered a small embarrassment at the end.

We had expected about 400 people. We were bombarded with a turnout of 1800 people. The sodas budgeted for – which had been taken from the stock at Big 7 Pub managed by the Kubwa Brothers on Kamiti Road – were too few.

More were sent for from the pub but they still were a drop in the ocean. More than half of the persons present went back home without having tasted a soda. None without bus fare.

However, that embarrassment was temporary. It had a silver lining with it. Where we had expected a backlash, it actually became Malulu’s point of strength.

PERFECT SUIT

The argument in favour of Malulu went that Malava needed a people’s servant and representative, not a Mr. Moneybags. Malulu perfectly suited into this job requirement. .

As elections neared, Malulu withdrew his shares from a Malava-membered Sacco based in Nairobi called Kefaso where he was the chairman, sold a plot he owned in Ongata Rongai and his residential house in Nkoroi in Kiserian to raise money to add to what he had been saving from his sugarcane farming and pumped it into his campaigns.

It was at that juncture that he requested me to help him get political connections. I talked to a senior Kabras politician called Maxwell of ODM to join me to take Malulu to then National Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya who was angling for the Kakamega gubernatorial seat.

Maxwell agreed on condition that Malulu joins ODM first. Malulu declined. I took him to Oparanya alone.

OPARANYA’S RUNNING MATE

The meeting with the Minister did not bear fruit. Oparanya wanted Malulu to be his running-mate in the county race.

But Malulu wanted to be the MP for Malava. The move floundered. Oparanya and Maxwell had already locked the MP space for another friend of our, Nambwa Musavini.

A week later, I would return to the 10th floor of Treasury Building where Oparanya’s office was domiciled.

This time, not to see the Minister but to introduce my other friend Mark Luchivya to his Assistant Minister Peter Kenneth who was running for Presidency and was looking for parliamentary candidates.

The Luchivya-Kenneth rapport lasted for a short time. After two weeks of their association, Kenneth toured Western Kenya once in a chopper and met Mark and the other aspirants seeking his Kenya National Congress (KNC) party tickets.

When he returned to Nairobi, he never got back to his would- be candidates and never picked their phones or responded to their text messages to date.

Kenneth did not even respond when he was informed that Luchivya had passed away.

MUDAVADI DISSAPOINTMENT

After the disappointment at Oparanya’s office, I and Malulu trooped to Musalia Mudavadi’s United Democratic Forum (UDF). There, too, it did not work. That space had been reserved for Saidi Khasavuli.

A frustrated Malulu had to lead his followers to demonstrate through the streets of Isanjiro to protest the injustice in UDF and opted to join the hitherto unknown Maendeleo Democratic Party (MDP)

Thus, Malulu entered the Malava parliamentary race as an underdog, just as did our friend Mark Luchivya who – after being abandoned by Kenneth – had since secured the ticket of Federal Party of Kenya (FPK) then led by former Lugari MP Cyrus Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo.

Malava Constituency had over the previous years been characterized by violence. That was worrying me a lot.

I elected to convene a brainstorming meeting with the four main candidates to discuss that matter: Nambwa, Khasavuli, Malulu and Luchivya.

Only Malulu and Luchivya showed up. On three different occasions, Nambwa and Khasavuli snubbed the meeting. The two had a strong biting ego problem.

Apart from being older than the three of us who were born in 1966, they were also considerably endowed financially and wanted to be treated as the front-runners. They actually were on face value. But not on the count of numbers.

MALULU BECOMES MP

As we escort Malulu to go and rest with the angels, I remain happy to this date that he and Luchivya swore in my presence not to promote or participate in electoral violence .They never did. Malava has not witnessed violence at election time since then.

On election night, it was actually Nambwa who called at 4:45am to laughingly inform me thus: “Omwana wefu Mukalo, I just want to inform you that your next Member of Parliament is Malulu Injendi. I have conceded defeat.”

The underdog had become the Malava Member of Parliament. He was to serve for a whole term of five years as the only MP elected on the ticket of the Maendeleo Democratic Party.

He would win the seat two more times, ,this time on the banner of Mudavadi’s ANC.

WHAT MALULU MEANS

The word Malulu means “the bitter ones” In Malava forest, there is a tree that bears bitter yellow fruits with white juice called Malulu.

Injendi’s election victory in 2013 no doubt left a bitter taste in the mouths of many a people.
Malulu was serving his third term when he passed away February 17th this year.

Since that day in 2011, I do not know of any major political decision that Malulu has made without consulting me.

Between 2021 and 2022, Malulu had a difficult political decision to make. He booked me for a consultation at a place called Plan B in Nairobi West.

He was a Member of the ANC party whose leader Musalia Mudavadi had declared interest in the Presidency.

On the hand, his friend and age-mate William Ruto who was then the Deputy President was too going to run for Presidency.

Malulu was torn between the two. He did not want to disappoint either of them. His happiest moment, however, came on January 23, 2022 when Ruto-s party UDA and Mudavadi’s ANC came together at the Bomas of Kenya in what came to be known as ‘The Earthquake’ to form the now ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance with Ruto as the presidential candidate.

It was a great relief for Malulu. He did have divided loyalty again and was agonising.

Physically, I last met Malulu in February last year. We had converged at the Sagret hotel for the inaugural Malava Professionals Forum meeting where National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula was the Chief Guest.

After that meeting, Malulu suggested that we go and while away the evening at Vibro restaurant. We did. With Pamela Benchi, Benard Mwonyonyo, Beverline Mmela, Amos Chilayi, Lenah Imboho and Michael Ndombi, we did while away the evening joyfully till late into the night.

In fact, at one moment Malulu’s bodyguard had to come and whisper to me in the ear to tell the MP to leave because it was getting rather too late and the drink was getting the better of him.

NEVER MET AGAIN

I did not meet my friend again since that day. Our other attempts to meet in person in the intervening period did not work.

Early last month Malulu called me one morning to inform me that he had arrived from Saudi Arabia and was feeling too cold and wanted to go and see a doctor first after which we could meet in the afternoon to discuss a certain matter.

The matter was that during the Christmas period, we had spoken on phone and my view was that an altercation he and some members of a Constituency WhatsApp group was taking an unsavoury dimension and needed to be addressed.

He concurred and we agreed that we should meet in the new year and hammer that concern out.

Malulu had said he would call me once he left the hospital. He did not call as promised. Mukhulundu remained in the hospital until he breathed his last on February 17th.

Malava has lost a good leader. I have lost a good friend. A confidant. A good man has died in Malava. We shall miss him. I, for sure, will

Orio muno Mukhulundu. Thank you for your friendship and counsel. Nyasaye nguoyo. Till We Meet Again. Chenda nende Omwami.

With great regards – MUKALO.