Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse has come under fire for hijacking UDA activities in Ukambani region and sidelining party loyalists.
Mutuse who recently announced he had defected from Maendeleo Chap Chap party to UDA has ruffled feathers, with long time UDA leaders and supporters from the region accusing him of running a one-man show and attempting to isolate and sideline other leaders.
“He is causing divisions and rifts within UDA and this will frustrate our efforts to popularize UDA and campaign for President Ruto’s second term,” said a senior UDA leader from the Ukambani region.
At the same time, it has emerged that the leaders who are unhappy with the developments have hatched a plot to “impeach” Mutuse.
According to reliable reports, Mutuse’s main opponent for the Kibwezi West parliamentary seat James Mbaluka has launched a drive to collect signatures to have him recalled.
“The same thing he did to the then Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is coming back to haunt him,” said political activist from Makueni county. “He will also be impeached”.
Mutuse’s dwindling political influence in Ukambani was evident over the weekend during during a function to distribute relief food in Kibwezi East Constituency.
Cabinet secretary for public service, human capital development and special programmes Geoffrey Ruku was the chief guest for the function held at Ulilinzi in Kibwezi East and Masumba in Kibwezi West.
Mutuse made a poster indicating that key UDA and government officials from Ukambani such as Principal Secretary for Aviation Teresia Mbaika, Fred Muteti, Regina Ndambuki, George Mwangangi and Kisoi Munyao would attend the function.
In what confirmed the widening rift within local UDA leadership, all the leaders, with the exception of Mwangangi skipped the high-profile event. The absence of the top UDA leaders sent a strong and clear message that all is not well within the UDA ranks in Ukambani.
According to insiders, the leaders were unhappy with Mutuse’s style of politics which they see as favouring short term populist interventions instead of structured long term development plans
Local residents also took to social media to criticize Mutuse over the same. The comments on Mutuse’s Facebook page were very critical of the MP.
“You are flying choppers to distribute mwolyo (relief food) while others are flying to give roads, stima and water? Maajab”.
“Come up with a permanent remedy like construction of dams and boreholes to enable citizens grow vegetables, fruits and also crop farming.”
At the same time, local leaders accused Mutuse of usurping other leaders’ mandate. “Why is he organizing an event in Kibwezi East without involving the area MP,” one UDA official pondered.
The UDA leaders have also noted the mischief of Mutuse recruiting candidates in the Machakos , Makueni and Kitui counties whom he has instructed to pretend to be in UDA but agenda is to use state funds to build their individual profiles and at the right time stand with Maendeleo Chap Chap Party and try and force No. 1 to negotiate with them as the alternative force to Wiper in the region.
The leaders have accused Mutuse of propping up his henchmen to sideline recognized popular UDA leaders.
In KIbwezi East, Mutuse is accused of promoting newcomer George Mwangangi at the expense of the more experienced and popular Amos Ngumbi who flew the UDA flag during 2022 elections and got respectable 5508 votes. “ He is fronting Mwangangi because he can manipulate him easily,” said the UDA official.
Similarly, Mutuse is accused of bypassing Onesmus Kimilu in Mbooni Constituency. Kimilu vied for the seat on UDA ticket in 2022 but Mutuse is now using Michael Kiosi who vied on Muungano ticket.
In an interesting turn of events, Mutuse’s scheme to use Francis Mutungi at the expense of Fred Muteti came to a dramatic end. The day Mutuse was to auction and deliver Mutungi to State House, he kept him waiting for over six hours at Palacina Hotel on Dennis Pritt road until Fred Muteti got wind of the sabotage and rushed to State House.
In Kilome constituency, Mutuse is using Monari Tangai in lieu of Regina Ndambuki while in Kaiti, Mutuse is grooming Elizabeth Ndinda to upstage PS Terry Mbaika.
Observers view Mutuse’s sinister moves as an elaborate scheme to finish UDA in Ukambani with Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua being part of the scheme.
In Kitui South he is wooing former MP, envoy Kiema kilonzo to upstage current MP Nimrod Mbai with whom they have sharp differences going back to their days when they served under then Governor Mutua.
According to insiders, all these guys who have been brought on board by Mutuse are riding on the support of state machinery to popularise their bid, and later pull a mass exit from UDA to Maendeleo Chap Chap Party ((MCCP) so that Mutua and Mutuse can package MCCP as a formidable force in Ukambani to negotiate for a stake in Ruto’s government.
But the schemes have failed to bear fruit.
Mutuse and MCCP’s failure to gain political traction in Ukambani can be attributed to Mutuse’s divisive style of leadership and his tendency to undermine other leaders especially those who refuse to bow down to his desired deity status. Other leaders doubt his level of discretion especially when he is in late night social engagements.
