A LETTER TO ABABU TAWFIQ NAMWAMBA-Onguso Ochengo

This is a letter to a brother, a firebrand of our time and indefatigable like the bulls of Spain. Back home, it is never where the pot fetches water that mesmerized our African mothers but where it falls and breaks, at the doorsteps. In 2008, you were the talk of the republic with stunts in parliament that could not be ignored, fearlessly refusing to take oath except through your party leader. Later, your sobriety in national issues became a matter of common knowledge by insisting that if at all the Waki Report was to be credible, the names of both principals of the grand coalition had to be included. That was a show of your independence of thought unbound by blind personality allegiances. 

Then came the tempting passion to establish an opposition in the grand coalition; you rabble-roused putting the democratic record of your party leader to test. Later you headed a ministry and finally formed a formidable campaign team dubbed ‘ODM Reloaded’ that campaigned zealously. It did not stop there. You rocked your party under the ‘Team Fresh’ banner becoming the centre holding the party together. Despite aborted party elections, you could not be ignored as to echo Chinua Achebe, when the centre can no longer hold, things fall apart. To avoid shame and melt down, you had to be given what you wanted-ODM Secretary General despite numerous tags of being a ‘traitor’ and ‘Jubilee Mole’. That you triumphed. 

No sooner had you sat on the Sec-Gen seat than your troubles doubled. In a well plotted play with mud-slinging scenes artistically crafted like the Elizabethan theatres, Kenyans were treated to rare drama as allegations of corruption bedeviled the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, which you chair. The truth or falsity of the allegations shall not be subject to examination in this letter but how you survive this battle and remain the proverbial nine-hearted cat in the political kingdom shall suffice. 

Your perpetual survival has always been based on politics 101 based on Robert Greene’s ‘48 Laws of Power’ and nothing have you missed before. In 2008 you started by choosing the man at the top as your target lifting your profile to somewhere next to his, at least as a national actor. This far the Laws have brought you, you need to adhere to them more religiously or risk breaking that precious political pot. Your political star has shone brighter and faster. 

The danger of this lies in Law 33; if you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness. Only then shall you survive Namwamba.

Secondly, nothing shall a man guard with his life, breath and strength than his reputation. Having been in politics, you know politics is a hub of secrecy. Confidentiality runs deep in a game that enemies draw strategies against each other day and night based on interest. Gaining a reputation of a man who cannot be trusted with the communication gargets is a danger not only within your political party’s circles but in the political class as a whole. Once you are treated with suspicions, no important information can you get, even from your allies. Which politician does not know information is a currency in politics? Any other party that welcomes you on board will accept you for political convenience and hide all crucial information from you for the same reason; political expedience. 

The political culture of the elite is so strange that even if the recording was for public good, your character is more essential here more than your sainthood intentions. John Githongo blew the whistle in the name of public good and now who can trust him as a confidante in the political class? This letter will not be complete without mentioning Miguna Miguna. Is he a man you can hire as your political advisor? Nothing in my mind holds this man in a prejudicial manner but politics of perception is realpolitik! 

However, a bad reputation can be made good and all you need to do is play smart. Loyalty is anchored on the spirit of reciprocity and no one is bound by duty to show loyalty to the disloyal. This letter urges you to play victim; a victim of disloyalty despite being loyal to your accusers. Quote your numerous instances of loyalty and the number of times you have been victimized in negation of and abuse to your loyalty. Until you show that you were paying your purported allies by their own currency, the tag shall stick to your political detriment breaking your political pot just at the doorsteps of your bright political future.

The writer is the chair of Board of Directors at  Intellectus Consultancy,a graduate of Political science at the University of Nairobi and currently pursuing concurrently an MA in Political Science and Law in the same University