George Natembeya’s Western Kenya Politics Turns Into a ‘Simon Makonde’ Story

Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya was a no-show on Friday at the Kakamega Law Courts where members of the Opposition from Western Kenya gathered to find out the outcome of a petition challenging the election of Malava Member of Parliament David Ndakwa in a by-election six months ago.

The petition had been filed by two supporters of Ndakwa’s main challenger Seth Panyako, a perennial competitor and outspoken secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN).

Panyako contested the seat left vacant by the death of area MP Moses Malulu on February 17 last year on the banner of the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) of which Natembeya is an influential Deputy Party Leader while former Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa is the Party Leader.

Ahead of the last November 27 by-election, Natembeya had fashioned himself as the undisputed Luhyia political Messiah whose time to liberate the populous community had come and dismissed the long-serving leaders from the Western region, Musalia Mudavadi (the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs) and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, as goods which had long lasted past their sell-by dates.

Even in the midst of the by-election campaigns, Natembeya publicly took Wamalwa head-on, seeking to unseat him as the Party Leader citing a raft of excuses.

However, slightly less than seven months later, the Natembeya political fairy-tale has turned into a meteoric story of the fabled Simon Makonde whose lifespan on Planet Earth lasted only one week.

In the ebb and tide of half a year, Natembeya is currently a limping politician more pre-occupied with defending his gubernatorial seat than engaging in a national leadership dash.

Noticeably his political strife has taken a nosedive.

The man who in October last year took tens of head of cattle with a delegation of his Bukusu kinsmen to the Kang’o Ka Jaramogi homestead of Kenya’s first Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in Bondo Siaya county to self-proclaim himself as the spokesperson of the Mulembe Nation and later went to Mudavadi’s Maragoli backyard in Vihiga county to be installed by a controversial group of elders as a Maragoli elder, has fizzled out of the national attention and is literally struggling for media limelight.

Natembeya’s fame popularity first took a knock when the Malava by-eletion results were announced, leaving him with an egg in his face after Panyako lost to the non-garrulous and non-controversial Ndakwa. .

Since then, developments in his native Western have left him and his DAP-K as fast-waning products.

Emergence of the beleaguered Nairobi senator and secretary-general of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) on the national scene has relegated Natembeya’s relevance to the back burner from where he is now daily having to ceaselessly ward off political onslaughts from rivals eyeing his present seat led by former Kiminini MP Dr. Chris Wamalwa, his predecessor Kakai Bissau and former Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha

His DAP-K party has not only been hit by defections, it is also mired in severe in-house management conflicts and biting financial straits.

In February this year, Kakamega Deputy Governor Ayub Savula and Bissau exited DAP-K to join the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) at elaborate ceremony hosted at State House Nairobi by President William Ruto who is also it’s Party Leader.

At a public function beamed live from State House, Nairobi, where Party Leader President William Ruto met potential UDA aspirants in next year’s General-Election, Savula and Bissau turned up donning UDA colours.

Savula announced that he would vie for the Kakamega governorship on the UDA ticket while Bissau revealed that he would seek to unseat Governor Natembeya in Trans-Nzoia county.

For the three years he has served as Governor, Natembeya has turned Mudavadi and Wetang’ula into his pet subject for criticism, accusing the duo of all manner of things, ranging from their age to service delivery and alleged aloofness.

Throughout the Malava by-election campaigns, Natembeya publicly unleashed endless barbs at the two, claiming that their longevity in the public arena had not benefited their Luhyia community.

Both Mudavadi and Wetang’ula have elected to ignore him, opting not to respond to his persistent criticisms.

Mudavadi is 65 years old while Wetangula is 69.

Interestingly, Wiper Patriotic Front (WPF) leader and former Vice-President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka who is the presumptive 2027 presidential candidate for the United Opposition which Natembeya and Eugene owe allegiance to is 76 years old.

On the other hand, in the 2022 General -Election, both Natembeya and Eugene supported the presidential bid of former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga, at the age of 78 years.

Almost four years since being elected as Governor, the political star of the once high-flying Natembeya is fast fading into oblivion.

His public visibility and media coverage have dwindled drastically as he now fights to retain his seat from the assaults posed by Dr. Wamalwa, Bissau and Nakhumicha.

Following the Malava by-election defeat, Natembeya and his DAP-K leadership top brass and the other local members of the United Opposition have gone missing in action, only popping up once in a while at funerals of prominent political and religious personalities.

Last Friday, a countable number of them led by Eugene and Kakamega senator Dr. Boni Khalwale showed up at the Kakamega Law Courts to show solidarity with Panyako. Except Natembeya.

Once pitched within the Opposition ranks as a potential presidential candidate and later as a running-mate, Natembeya has been left to fight it out for his political survival in Trans-Nzoia while the Mudavadi and Wetangula he has been hurling brivkbats go on with their State duties unmoved, unfazed and undeterred.