By Mwinzi wa Kyulungwa (ka Mwingi)_
Commentator & Analyst
Much as we, the people of Mwingi region, would wish to have one of our own getting the governor seat, we must also be alive to recent historical facts and also hard political facts.
In 2022 when Hon. Musila took the ring against Dr. Malombe, we from the Mwingi region sat on the edge of the seat, holding our breath and praying for our Mzee to take the crown.
Hon. Musila is not a push over. He had managed to galvanize the entire Mwingi region to vote for him. By extension, parts of Kitui East felt like they were part of the larger Mwingi and supported Hon. Musila. To make it sweet, he picked a deputy from Kitui South.
Add the icing on the cake – former governor Charity Ngilu threw her weight behind our man. At this point, there were no two ways about it, the seat was coming home. We sat, prayed, hoped and fasted. But when the last vote was counted, our hopes were shattered. Dr. Malombe had won and Hon. Musila lost.
The same scenario appears to be replicating ahead of 2027. This time, Hon. Irene Kasalu from Mwingi appears to be walking right into Musila’s footsteps. She is out to galvanize the Mwingi region. She has announced she will pick a deputy from the South.
Yet our daughter Hon. Kasalu is making grave mistakes. She has crafted her campaign around exclusion. Publicly, she has indicated that she doesn’t need votes from Kitui Central, Kitui West and Kitui Rural. Her campaign is anchored on votes from Mwingi region, South and what her people call Ndee.
But the question we ask in Mwingi is this? Will our daughter Hon.Kasalu surpass Hon. Musila’s votes in larger Mwingi? How will she survive without votes from Kitui Central, West and Rural?
Hon. Kasalu is facing a fairly complex political calculation. Yes, regional pride and identity politics still matter a lot in Kitui, but they rarely decide a gubernatorial race on their own.
By repeating Hon. Musila’s mistakes, Hon. Kasalu is walking herself to the slaughterhouse. This election should be shaped by a person’s ability to sell a message that feels inclusive and unifying.
Things are getting even more complicated for our daughter Hon. Kasalu given that our senior son, HE Kalonzo Musyoka is eyeing the presidency. For political regional balancing, people from the other parts of Kitui are bound to feel that our Mwingi region cannot produce the presidency and the governor at the same time.
This kind of situation can easily split attention, political energy and even strategy.
Hon. Kasalu must understand that winning the governor’s seat requires support that goes well beyond the Mwingi region.
For Hon. Kasalu to make an impressive showing in the campaigns, she would need to build a county-wide coalition, define a clear identity beyond regional lines and convince voters that her agenda speaks to all of Kitui, not just one part of it.
Our worrying question in Mwingi is this? Will our daughter expand her appeal beyond geography and turn it into a broad-based political force?
