ALFRED MUTUA LAUNCHES MAENDELEO CHAP CHAP MOVEMENT TO FOSTER DEVELOPMENT

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua during the launch of Maendeleo Chap Chap party on August 25, 2016 at Bomas of Kenya. The Governor is likely going to use the party for his re-election in 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua last evening formally parted ways with the Wiper Movement, which brought him to power, by launching his new party, Maendeleo Chap Chap.

It was a colourful event held at Nairobi’s Bomas of Kenya.

The crowd was adorned in purple t-shirts waving pennants with Dr Mutua’s name on it.

A couple was brought in from Machakos to testify how his water projects had saved them long journeys in search of it.

There were booklets listing all his achievements, from ambulances to police cars to stadiums and CCTV cameras.

“Tribalism is not a way of life, he began,” reading from teleprompter. “But it is something that has been institutionalised to a point where it has become a point of reference,” he went on.

The new party (he called it “a consciousness”), would tackle the problems he argued have dragged Kenya’s growth for years.

This include poor work ethic, bureaucracy, corruption and lack of basic amenities.

Dr Mutua said Kenyan contractors are never in a hurry to finish projects, yet they get paid for it.

“We have a never-ending bureaucracy that is just creating poverty. I hate corruption and we are not poor. We are just being robbed,” Dr Mutua said.

NO POLITICIAN INVITED TO EVENT

The launch was a political event but no politicians from the current parliament was present. He claimed the delegates were from all Kenyan counties.

“We have deliberately not invited politicians. This is because Maendeleo Chap Chap is a party of the common mwananchi,” he said.

In May this year, Dr Mutua claimed he feared being rigged out on Wiper next year and vowed to defend his seat on a different party. Then he started Maendeleo Chap Chap which he said would deliver his people from the jaws of poverty.

Wiper has accused him of dancing for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.

They threatened to expel him from Wiper unless he apologised.

In return, Dr Mutua refused to toe that line instead defending his association with the President.

With the decision to defend his seat on a different movement, Dr Mutua has taken a political risk.

Machakos, like most of Ukambani region, was in Cord in the last general elections. It has remained so despite overtures from the Jubilee side.

Does he worry about this opposition wave? He claimed he wasn't, because he believed the people of Machakos are not gullible.

"We need to walk the talk instead of pulling apart. It doesn't matter which party you support. You too, can be a friend of Maendeleo Chap Chap," said the Machakos County boss.

Earlier, Dr Mutua had incensed journalists covering his launch after he ordered his security detail to throw reporters out of a rehearsal auditorium.

But the governor, sensitive to negative reporting, later emerged from the hall to offer an explanation of what he meant when he ejected them.

“There were certain people who are not supposed to be here, he argued shaking hands with the journalists later.

“I want you to understand that I cannot chase you away.”

His utterances in the auditorium had been perceived to be arrogant. He told the burly men to pick out every journalist and take them out then used the word nyonga which translates to strangle.

Later, he argued he was using the word to refer to ejecting people by grabbing their shirts.

CREDIT: NATION MEDIA GROUP