‘Respect Mudavadi and Wetangula,’ Washiali tells Malala on call to fold parties

If what UDA luminaries in Kakamega County, the home county of Malala say are anything to go by, then the interim SG would have a bumpy ride convincing his kinsmen to vote him in for the coveted job.

Malala’s recent sentiments while in Mt Elgon, where he urged ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and FORD-Kenya’s Moses Wetangula to fold their parties, have irked a section of UDA members in Kakamega.

In his viral speech, Malala asked Mudavadi and Wetangula to fold their “divisive parties” and join UDA.

Former Mumias East lawmaker Benjamin Washiali has now urged the former senator to go slow on his vitriol talk, which he says “lacks goodwill”.

“The Luhya people are united and him (Malala), saying that Ford Kenya and ANC are on a divisive trajectory is misguided. If he has something he wants to speak to Mudavadi about, let him approach Mudavadi, with respect, after which the procedure of announcing mergers will follow,” Washiali told Citizen Digital.

Washiali has termed Malala’s tendencies to lecture Mudavadi in public forums as embarrassing, as he has the ability to reach him on phone. 

“I believe the SG who is our son, may be having a good agenda probably after 2032, meaning we may need a party of national outlook, but how he puts it is like washing our dirty linen in public. So he needs to know that the two leaders have united the region, and deserve the respect from all of us and should be approached with such respect,” Washilai cautioned.

Last month, Malala, in another round of charm offensive, asked Mudavadi and Wetang’ula to fold their respective parties and join the ruling UDA.

He said that the different parties in Kenya Kwanza are dividing the Luhya nation, even as Mudavadi and Wetang’ula insisted that the Luhya nation stands firmly behind Ruto’s government. 

However, Malala insists that for the Luhya nation to stand undivided, parties that have roots in the region such as ANC and Ford Kenya must be folded, and all leaders in Western Kenya should join the UDA.

“We cannot continue having village parties gunning for presidency. We have small parties whose SG comes from one side of the village, the treasurer is in the next village and the transaction of the parties is at village level, and you want to tell me you are seeking a national seat, how?” Malala posed in a function in Vihiga. 

With succession politics raging in Luhyaland, Malala says the talk is premature, but insists parties must fold, to the disquiet of coalition members of Kenya Kwanza.

Recently while in Kakamega, Mudavadi and Wetang’ula steered clear of the parties’ politics, instead addressing backlash over the high cost of living, adding that Kenya Kwanza bears solutions despite the current turmoil.

With a population of 6.82 million people according to the 2019 Census, Western Kenya is the most populous region after Central Kenya, which has a population of 8.14 million. 

If the calls to fold the parties succeed, the land of Mulembe will have increased its stakes and leverage in the political space.